I 




I- ^. A* 



v »','°- 




//To? 



Creed and Customs: 



POPULAE HAKD BOOK 



TREATING OF THE CHIEF 



DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES 



Informed (ftertlt in ilic It. JS. 



BY 



pEO. j3. j^USSELL, y^.yVL. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

REFORMED CHURCH PUBLICATION BOARD, 
No. 54 North Sixth Street. 




Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1869, by the 
REFORMED CHURCH PUBLICATION BOARD, 
In the Clerk'i Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 



JAS. B. RODGERS CO., 
ELECTROTYPERS AND PRINTERS, 
PHILADELPHIA. 



REFACE, 



MAmr of our own Reformed people have long felt the want 
of a convenient hand book of our Creed and Customs ; and 
strangers, to whom we come preaching the everlasting gospel, 
challenging their faith and obedience, want to know about 
our claim and authority as a Church, and what is our par- 
ticular Faith and Practice. This involves some general 
reference to our Xame, our General History, our Symbol of 
Faith, our Type of Religion, our view of the Cleans of Grace, 
the Holy Sacraments, Household Baptism, (including Mode 
and Subjects), the Relation of those Baptized to the Church, 
Christian Xurture, Confirmation, the Holy Communion, 
Regular Worship, Christian Festivals, Church Duties and 
Good Works, and Church Government. 

It was the necessity for bringing out in our frontier mis- 
sionary labors, in various and occasional discourses, before 
the public, the substance of what is here summarily thrown 
together, that finally suggested the plan and publication, of 
this book. For the want of anything better in this shape, 
the Church may be willing to accept what is here humbly 
offered. In response to the frequent requests of some of our 
(perhaps too partial) friends, we have, after waiting long 
years for others to meet this acknowledged want, overcome 
our reluctance to publish, in a more permanent form, these 
crudities of our earlier ministry. Others, more able for this 
work than ourselves, may not have felt with us, the same 
deep want for such a book ; and it has, therefore, been left 
for us to undertake the duty, of giving a general and popular, 

iii 



iv 



PREFACE. 



yet succinct statement of our Creed and Customs, for the use 
of the common people. 

The material, out of which this book has grown, was neither 
born with us, nor came to us at first hands ; and, because of 
this fact, whatever value the book itself may be found to 
have, is doubtless all the greater. All we know of the truth 
it contains, was learned from others. Our part of the work 
has simply been to prepare its contents in the present form, 
from various authentic sources, which may now be used to- 
gether in a way not hitherto provided. 

As to the plan of the work and the order of topics treated 
of, as well as to the manner of bringing them out, there might 
of course be differences of opinion. But the general features 
of both plan and disposition will, we trust, be acknowledged 7 
as in the main, becoming and proper. 

We have aimed simply at presenting what we regard a fair 
statement of the doctrines and practices of our Reformed 
Church as a whole — not the narrower conceptions of mere in- 
dividualism or of selfish party interests. It will, therefore, 
not likely give entire satisfaction to the prejudices of either 
extreme, in the issues now before the Church. While some 
may consider our general standpoint too high, many, we 
know, think it far below, what they hold to be, the true 
standard. Our whole purpose is always, and at all points, to 
follow the truth. The points of doctrine brought out, are 
mainly such as indicate our general peculiarities and denomi- 
national life. The method of our treatment of them, by no 
means claims to be either thoroughly scientific or exhaustive. 

What we have here, was prepared at intervals covering a 
period of our ministry of more than ten years; and the 
whole was put into its present form early in 1865. Some of 
the topics, by more recent discussions, have undergone wide 
de grees of change in the general mind of the Church, since 
then ; and if we were to treat of them in their present as- 
pect, expressions and even thoughts might be modified. 
But we prefer allowing what we had written previous to the 
sharp controversies, to .remain as at least an humble testi- 



PREFACE. 



V 



mony to the general animus of our Church life as that held 
in the Tercentenary year. 

Our Jubilee Festival, held (1863 and continued till 
Spring of 1864) , with much success and profit to our Church, in 
honor of the 300th year of the Heidelberg Catechism, should 
continue to bear fruit. We trust, therefore, that this contri- 
bution to the general cause intended to be thereby aided, 
may prove neither barren nor unfruitful in the Lord. Trust- 
ing that it may not be ill timed nor mistaken in its aims ; 
and praying God's blessing on our efforts, we commit it, in 
hearty faith, to the overruling hand of our Divine Lord — in 
whose service we desire to live and labor. And now, com- 
mending it to the favor and useful service of the Eeformed 
Church — we offer it as a tribute to our spiritual mother, 
from whom we have received baptism, in whose nurture we 
were taught our "only comfort in life and death," and from 
whom we received confirmation, communion and ordination. 
From her Creed and Customs may many receive the saving 
knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He 
has sent, which is eternal life ! 

G. B. E. 

Philadelphia, Pa., May, 1869. 



1* 




ABLE OF LONTENTS, 



CHAPTER L 

THE REFORMED NAME. 

General term Reformed. Lutheran and Reformed. Evangelical. Two 
Stems. The branches. Reformed Family. German. Simply Reformed. 
(Ecumenical Spirit. Dutch and German. German Presbyterian. Union 
of the Reformed. Our Duty p. 11-46. 



CHAPTER EL 

THE REFORMED CHURCH. 

History. General Relations. Home of Reformed. Elements in the 
Life of the Reformed Church. Sad Sufferings. Reformed Church in 
America d. 46-86. 



CHAPTER III. 

REFORMED SYMBOL OF FAITH. 

The Heidelberg Catechism. Occasion for its formation. Producing 
the Catechism. Acknowledged Excellence of the Catechism. Bringing 
it into use. Pastoral fidelity required. Hostility to it. Its Defence. 
Frederick's Trial. His noble Answer. His Triumph. General Recep- 
tion n. 87-120. 



CHAPTER IV. 

REFORMED TYPE OF RELIGION. 

Spirit of the Catechism. Not like others. A Difference. Person of 
Christ. True Religion. Not Feeling only. Not Orthodoxy. Not hu- 
man Goodness. Faith. Educational Religion. Making Disciples. Other 
Systems. False Notion of the Church. True Idea. The Better Way. p. 121-151. 

vii 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 



MEANS OF GRACE. 



Use of Means. Word and Sacraments. Preaching. The Gospel. 
Grace in the use of Means. Sacraments grace bearing, from God to us. 
Practical Use p. 155-183. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HOLY BAPTISM. 

The First Sacrament. When appointed. Takes place of Circumcision. 
As held in our Catechism. Baptismal Grace. Efficacy of that Grace. 
Use of the Sacrament. What comes from God. Unsacramental Formal- 
ism. Mode of Baptism. The Baptists. Testimony of Early Records. New 
Testament. Scripture. Meaning of Heathen Terms. Baptizo p. 184-225. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM. 

Infant Baptism. Voice of Church History. Instead of Circumcision. 
Young Children. Apostolic Practice. Faith in Order to Baptism. Election 
and Freedom. Proper Subjects for Baptism p. 226-253. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

RELATION OF BAPTIZED CHILDREN TO THE CHURCH. 

Belong to the Church. They are Members. This Relation. It demands 
Nurture. The Church their Mother. Must Teach them to Know, to 
Love, and to Obey. Must Mediate and Intercede for them. Confirm and 
Keep them. Must Rule and Govern them. Grace of the Covenant...p. 254-283. 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHRISTIAN NURTURE. 

Catechizing the Baptized. Teaching Faith and Doctrine. Custom of 
our Fathers. Good fruits. The New-Measure Heresy. Testimony of the 
Reformed Church against it. The Custom of Catechizing in Practice, p. 284-318. 



CHAPTER X. 

CONFIRMATION. 



This Rite ordains to Church Fellowship in the general Priesthood of 
Believers. Why held in honor by Reformed, and opposed by others. 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



Scriptural Authority. Laying on of* hands in the early Churches. At the 
Reformation. In Modern Times. In the Reformed Church. Proper 
Subjects for this Holy Rite. At what Age? Early Age, as shown from 
Civil Law, Jewish Custom, and the Example of Jesus ~ p. 318-340. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

Doctrine of this Sacrament in our Catechism. Extremes. Roman 
Transubstantiation. Lutheran Consubstantiation. Puritan and Ration- 
alistic Yiew; nothing in it. The Reformed View; Spiritual Real Pre- 
sence. Form of this Doctrine. Memorial. Mystical Presence. Com- 
munion. Gracious and Grace-bearing p. 341-369. 



CHAPTER XII. 

GENERAL "WORSHIP. 

Worship — Private, Social and Public. Prayer meetings. Sunday School. 
Parts of Public "Worship. Preaching. Reading the Word. Public Prayer. 
Praise. Sacraments. How this is to be Rendered. Passive and Active 
Participation of the Worshiper. Forms. Divine Authority. Unregulated 
Element. Right Use —.p. 370-393. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHURCH FESTIVALS AND HOLY-DAYS. 

Advent. Christmas. Christmas Gifts. The Gift and the Giver. Lent. 
Good Friday. Easter. The Lord's Day, not the old Sabbath. The Ascen- 
sion. Whitsuntide. Trinity, the Doxology p. 394-418. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

GOOD WORKS. 

Duties in the Congregation. In the Church at Large. Church Litera- 
ture. Religious Newspapers. General Benevolence Missions. Church 
Institutions. Beneficiary Education. Orphans, Widows and the Poor. p. 419-440. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 

Its Authority. Apostolic Assemblies, to elect an Apostle; to elect 
Deacons ; to settle Gentile affairs. Officers. Ordination. Different Forms. 
Papacy, Episcopacy, etc. Orders. Ministers, Teachers, Elder3, Dea- 
cons, Courts, Consistory, Cla3sis, Synod, General Synod p. 440-467. 



Creed and Customs. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE REFORMED NAME. 

MONG all the names designating the seve- 



JOL ral branches of the Christian Church, none 
is more central and less remote from Catholic 
unity, than our own historic name Reformed. 
Roman or Papal, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presby- 
terian, Baptist, Methodist, and the many less 
respectable names, all are more partizan, one- 
sided or schismatic, and in so far, less Catholic 
than the generic title the Reformed Church, 
which we inherit. 

The Reformed Church, to which we belong, 
has, since the great movements in the Six- 




12 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



teenth Century, found a home in many lands. 
For a period of more than a century and a 
half, we can find traces of its existence here 
in America. During the greater part of the 
last half century, we have been known in this 
country, as the German Eeformed Church; 
though the term German seems plainly not to 
have been known as a part of our original 
name in Europe, where it was always simply 
Reformed ; the banner name of one whole side 
of the Reformation. 

The true value of this term Reformed, as a 
part of our rich spiritual inheritance, coming 
down to us freighted with fragrant memories, 
which have been brought fresh to us in the 
revival spirit of our late Tercentenary Jubi- 
lee, we propose as first of all, worthy of our 
earnest consideration. 

Tracing up the several reformatory move- 
ments of the Sixteenth Century, we find that 
they appeared almost at one and the same 
time, not only in Switzerland and Germany, 
but also in Prance, in England and in Hol- 
land — besides in the other less important 
countries of Europe. It is now generally con- 
ceded, by candid historians, that the Reform 
in the Swiss cantons was a spontaneous move- 
ment, altogether independent of the similar 



THE REFORMED NAME. 



T 3 



awakening in Saxony. For it is a matter of 
honest record, that Ulrich Zwingli preached 
the great truths of the gospel, as opposed to 
Romish errors and corrupt traditions, before 
he had heard of Luther, or had seen his works, 
if not indeed two full years before Luther even 
himself had begun to preach the distinctive 
truths of Protestantism. 

The great work of Reform was at first 
thought by the authorities of the Church, to 
be of not much account. Even the papal 
party, at Rome, supposed it was merely a 
petty quarrel between different orders of 
monks, such as they were accustomed often to 
witness ; and that it would end, as all such 
wars usually terminated, in mere word-battles, 
in which no serious results to either party fol- 
lowed. When, however, diets and councils 
and general discussions, at length, all failed 
to quell the aroused spirit of awakening truth ; 
when the movement showed a determined 
spirit, a formidable front, and threatened to 
maintain itself with warm martyr zeal ; when 
the Protest was even handed in against the 
action of the imperial diet, then, its true cha- 
racter began to be known, and its partizans 
received the general appellation of Protestants. 

Hence Protestantism was made to include 

2 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



all that was opposed to the old order of things, 
which had in various ways, by corruptions 
and abuses, come to obtain in the Romish 
Church. 

Special names, designating particular por- 
tions of these historical developments, origi- 
nated in different ways. The places or cities, 
where lived the chief leaders, gave rise to the 
names of certain schools or tendencies ; thus 
w T e have the Zurichers and Wittembergians. 
When named directly after the more impor- 
tant persons, they were Zwinglians and Lu- 
therans. After Zwingli's untimely death, 
when Calvin's great name arose, over-shadow- 
ing all the other Swiss champions, his follow- 
ers as well as all other Protestants who were 
not Lutherans, were called Calvinists. Among 
the ignorant Romanists and others both of that 
time, and even later, when such ignorance is 
far less excusable, the whole reformatory reli- 
gious movement of Europe was put down as 
Lutheranism. 

REFORMED. 

More correctly named, by its friends, this 
whole great religious awakening is called the 
Reformation. They intend thereby to affirm, 
that the changes wrought in the worship and 



REFORMED. 



*5 



practices of the Church, did not alter or even 
touch the true old Catholic Creed ; but rather 
restored to their proper place, the essentials of 
Christianity, and set free the Church only 
from the vicious abases and corruptions, 
brought in by Romanism. The Catholic 
Church thus renovated was called Reformed. 
It was not starting something from the new ; 
but only giving free scope to the historical life 7 
of the Church ; now developing ' its heavenly 
powers, in full consonance with its original 
divine order, into a higher stadium of true 
progress. 

Reformed was for a time at least the gen- 
eral name for all of Protestantism, whatever 
were its minor shades of difference. Thus all 
phases of the Reformation as arrayed against 
Romanism were, in so far, considered one. So 
we find the Reformed Church of Switzerland, 
of France, of Germany, of England, of Scot- 
land, and of Holland. The German branch 
of the Reformed Church, as we now have it, 
transplanted to the American continent, as 
well as in the old world, wherever it exists, 
as a distinct body, now holds, however, a some- 
what modified relation to original Protestant- 
ism. The Reformed family of Churches now 
make up one whole side of the great Reforma- 



l6 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

tion, viz : that which refused to be known as 
distinct and exclusive Lutheranism. In this, 
stands our branch of the Reformed Church, 
which has not only in its original home, in the 
Fatherland, but also here in America, especially 
of late years, come to hold such an important 
relation to the Theological science of our age. 

The name Reformed, as first used among 
the French Protestants, was a generic term to 
designate the renovated Church ; and not the 
watchword of any one clique or party under 
the personal leadership of a single man. It 
thus denoted the living Christian Church, as 
reformed or cleansed from the abuses and cor- 
ruptions of Rome. It was not something by 
them created or made altogether new, which 
they chose to call a Church, after an order of 
Christianity manufactured for the occasion. 
This bald kind of radical Reformation some 
would desire rather to find. But this were to 
destroy its right to divine historical origin. It 
was the old Catholic Church purified — that 
Church which the Divine Head in the begin- 
ning founded on the Rock, against which the 
gates of hell shall not prevail. It was the 
Church of the Apostles and Prophets and Mar- 
tyrs and Confessors ; whose chief corner stone 



REFORMED. 



*7 



was Christ Jesus, which was always the ground 
and pillar of the truth. 

This same old glorious Catholic Church, as 
now Reformed of the abuses and corruptions 
which had come to obtain, is nevertheless the 
bearer still, of " grace and truth" for the 
world, and possesses thus the necessary requi- 
sites by which it- could be still further reno- 
vated and developed into a higher form of its 
original life, ife-formed, not A"e^-formed, was 
the Church of the Sixteenth Century. What 
at first then, was the generic name for all that 
repudiated the distinctive Eoman and unchris- 
tian practices and doctrines of the papal 
Church, came afterwards to be applied in a 
more restricted sense. One part of the Refor- 
mation was unwilling to be known by this 
general term, and ranged itself under the party 
lead of the great champion of Germany, glory- 
ing in the name of Luther. While he lived, 
he neither encouraged nor allowed any party 
to wear his name. Only after the death of 
that great reformer, came those who, more 
Lutheran than Luther, claimed to be entitled 
to bear the distinctive party name of Luthe- 
rans. And fifteen years after the Heidelberg 
Catechism was published and adopted as the 

2* 



i8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



general Reformed standard, fall blown Luthe- 
ranism appeared in the Concordiae Formula. 

LUTHERAN AND REFORMED. 

Differences had of course always existed be- 
tween the peculiar teaching of Zwingli, Lu- 
ther, Melancthon and Calvin, in their personal 
conception of the evangelical truth brought 
out anew in the general Reformation. These 
became more apparent in the formal teachings 
of each one's system, and as such held by their 
several followers. It will be proper to notice 
them more especially in detail, at another place. 
Suffice it just here to say : that Zwingli was 
regarded as standing in one extreme, holding 
and advocating the principal points arising in 
the controversy; and of course, in the other ex- 
treme, with even greater zeal and vehemence, 
was Luther. Between these, stood mediating 
Melancthon and, to a certain extent also, Cal- 
vin. Melancthon's place has never been 
clearly settled. He is claimed by some Lu- 
therans, especially at first, as having been of 
one mind with Luther. But afterwards, he 
is known to have held to the more moderate 
views of the great doctrines in dispute, and in- 
clined steadily to their altered and modified 
form. His amended form of the most general 



LUTHERAN AND REFORMED. 



*9 



confession of Protestantism, was even once 
subscribed by Calvin at Strassburg, during his 
two years' sojourn there, while banished from 
Geneva. It is plain also, that Calvin's reforma- 
tory labors, after his return in triumph from 
his exile, were in fuller harmony with the same. 
Some of those also who had been pupils of the 
great masters — in some cases of all of them — 
contributed as a consequence to produce later, 
a system, combining, as is thought, the heart 
and core and life of all these together in one 
grand theological master-piece, the Heidelberg 
Catechism. 

This, however, did not come to an embodied 
consciousness, without much bitter contro- 
versy and violent contention. After the death 
of Luther, the storm raged until the gentle 
Melancthon was well nigh driven to despair. 
His disciples, who along with him held his later 
and somewhat changed views, were fiercely 
persecuted under the name of Phillipists. And 
the Crypto-Calvinists, who sympathized with 
them, were made to suffer a kind of martyr- 
dom for their faith. The most violent party 
of ultra Lutherans, out Luthere d Luther him- 
self; and so formally fell away from the gene- 
ral Reformation into what became extreme 
party Lutheranism. In this sense Reformed 



20 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



is generic ; while Lutheran is distinctively 
specific and more partizan. Under this view* 
the Reformed Church is older than the Lu- 
theran ; and instead of being only a reformed 
phase of Lutheranism, it is then clear, that 
we are no mere off-shoot of that, but are a co- 
ordinate part of the general Reformation — if 
not indeed the continuation of the main generic 
life in a true stem, or at least branch, whilst 
others are more likely than we, side branches 
of later, though it may be larger growth. 

EVANGELICAL. 

Some distinction has been made between 
the Lutheran and Reformed, by the use of 
the term Evangelical. This, however, is felt 
to be so common to both, that the attempts to 
unite the two branches have always been 
made under the name, " Evangelical." 

As the Reformation indeed restored the 
Evangelical' (i. e. Gospel) element to its right 
place in the character of the Church ; giving 
prominence to the preaching of the gospel, 
which had been obscured and set aside to a 
great extent by the papal ritual and. gross 
abuses; so the whole Reformed Church was 
called Evangelical, to distinguish it as the true 
Church of the Gospel, from the corrupted tradi- 



TWO MAIN STEMS. 



21 



tions of the Romish hierarchy — from which it 
was Reformed. When therefore Lutheranism 
claimed later, to be "the Reformation," its par- 
tizans called it "Evangelical Lutheran." Some 
of the more liberal, were indeed even willing 
to allow to the other main branch, the signifi- 
cant title also of " Evangelical Reformed." 

Both were, of course, evangelical, as making 
full account of the preached gospel and general 
use of the Holy Bible, over against the restric- 
tions, in this regard, of the Church of Rome. 
" Reformed" and " Lutheran," were, however, 
the common terms distinguishing the particu- 
lar Sacramental schools and theological sys- 
tems to which each belonged. For it was, 
after all, mainly this sacramental difference, 
and the co-ordinate doctrines belonging here, 
which divided the great stream of Protestant- 
ism into these two general branches. Other 
differences no doubt there were ; some as grow- 
ing out of the sacramental controversy ; and 
yet others distinct from these. 

TWO MAIN STEMS. 

Luther had early found opposition to his 
peculiar views on the Lord's Supper, especially 
in the teachings of Zwingli, the head of the 
Swiss Reform at Zurich; and also in the 



22 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



other independent, though perhaps less radical 
Reformers in Switzerland and France, as 
well as among theologians of high standing in 
Germany itself. This, along with other minor 
shades of difference, in the general tendencies 
first shown, finally formed the ground for divi- 
ding the Reformation into two 'main branches, 
since known as the Lutheran and the Re- 
formed. 

One party inscribed on their ensign the 
name of an individual reformer, significant 
perhaps of the party-exclusiveness of their 
dogma; while the other, more fortunate in 
this at least, retained, as it would seem from 
a historical necessity, the more generic term, 
and so made room also for dogmas of a more 
oecumenical and liberal spirit — in their Ban- 
ner name Reformed. Such things as names 
have meaning. As in the case of the early 
Church, which received its Christian name at 
Antioch, doubtless by divine appointment; 
and so here, the names were not arbitrarily, 
selected, but were historically applied and ac- 
knowledged. 

THE BRANCHES. 

Not necessarily hostile, therefore, are the 
several interests of these two co-ordinate and 



THE BRANCHES. 



2 3 



mutually supplementary parts of the Great 
Reformation. Reformed is not an off-shoot 
of Lutheranism nor always at enmity withit, 
as many affect to think, who characterize our 
Church as a secondary reform from the Re- 
form of Luther. It is in fact a whole side of 
the original reformatory efforts of the Holy 
Catholic Church ; though its family be itself 
made up of many different churches, all agree- 
ing in their unwillingness to be made Lu- 
theran, and holding individual church distinc- 
tions and polity. Reformed, Swiss, French, 
German, Dutch, English and Scotch thus be- 
long to one family, on the one side. 

On the other side, is Lutheranism, which 
also claims to be one. And, as such unity, it 
is set up generally in contrast with only some 
one member of the Reformed family at a time. 
But it must be borne in mind that under that 
Lutheran family name, there are also differ- 
ences, quite as great and varied as in the sev- 
eral parts belonging to the Reformed side. In 
government there is Episcopal and Presbyte- 
rial Lutheranism ; in tone, high and low ; in 
style and measures, old and new ; in type, 
German, Danish, Swedish and American ; in 
organization, in or out, of General Synod ; in 



24 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



variety, (says Dr. Kurtz) u twenty-nine several 
stripes/' in this country alone. 

THE REFORMED FAMILY. 

Keeping in mind the general fact; that the 
Reformed family embraces manifold diversi- 
ties; of nationality of peoples, of order and 
church polity ; we can readily understand that 
it is not always " a happy family," in full 
harmony with itself in all its members. Very 
important, however, is it, nevertheless, to keep 
steadily in view the whole family group, in 
order that we may be the better able to trace 
relationships and likenesses. The Reformed 
Churches of Europe and America, we may 
suppose, under some circumstances, not only 
might have been one, in fundamental Creed 
from the start; but could now, if the time 
were fully come for uniting the disjecta mem- 
hra, be brought together in a common confes- 
sion, without adding anything new to what 
they now hold for faith. Remembering the 
historical relation of our branch, of the Re- 
formed Church, to the general family ; we 
may feel well assured, that our work is not 
yet all done. One of the twin sisters of the 
Reformation, the German branch of the Re- 
formed Church, is the first-born in the family ; 



THE REFORMED FAMILY. 



25 



and from her the others have already received a 
large measure of good, in character and Creed. 

Her origin, antiquity, and historical charac- 
ter bears noble comparison with all others ; 
and being inferior to none, challenges the pro- 
foundest respect and admiration. In her sym- 
bol of faith, she has given creed and doctrine 
to some of the principal denominations who 
have an evangelical history ; and thus has be- 
come, as it were, the foster-mother of other 
respectable bodies. 

In this character of spiritual mother, or, at 
least, helper, she is, though exceedingly hum- 
ble, nevertheless, worthy of honor. She sent 
some of her sons to help the Keformation in 
England, by their presence and personal 
labors; while others, who were solicited to 
help, gave freely of their written counsel and 
advice. So that we can trace, in the Thirty- 
nine Articles and Book of Common Prayer of 
the Keformed Church of England, some of 
the elements of doctrine and worship belong- 
ing to our mother, the Reformed Church of 
Germany, whose influence in this regard is 
notyet fully owned and acknowledged. Indeed, 
the Protestant Episcopal Church of England 
and America, officially unchurches and utterly 
ignores that part of the Keformed Church 
3 



26 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



which helped them largely to become what 
the j now are in the Reformation family. 

Well-known, too, is the fact, that the Heid- 
elberg Catechism was received as the doctrinal 
standard, not of the Palatinate alone ; but that 
the Reformed Churches of Hesse, Friesland, 
Nassau, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland and 
Holland also, adopted and acknowledged it. 
So that it well nigh became, from the start, the 
universal symbol of faith for the whole Re- 
formed family. Though political changes and 
revolutions have since displaced it largely in 
its early homes ; yet has our symbol catholicity 
and vitality enough to form, at the least, a 
common ground-work for bringing together, 
at the right time, the widely dispersed ele- 
ments of the Reformed Church into one. As 
the old Catholic undoubted Christian Creed 
must be the ground of final union of the 
whole body of Christ ; so that also, which lies 
nearest to its warm heart, and drinks in most 
of its true spirit, must first prepare the way 
of the Lord for the dispensation of Catholic 
Unity. 

Peculiar form of Church polity and theo- 
logical doctrine also, manifestly belongs to our 
Reformed Church. It is the original repre- 
sentative of a peculiar, peaceful and moderate 



THE REFORMED FAMILY. 



27 



genius and life. Irenical as St. John, it is a 
mediating power between the extremes of St. 
Peter and St. Paul ; yet, earnest and burning 
in its love of the truth, as was the warm heart of 
that "son of thunder," it can also engage in 
Boanergic controversy for the "faith once de- 
livered to the Saints." " Mittelmass die beste 
Strass," is the embodiment of an ideal com- 
promise in the golden mean lying very near 
to the solution of the great Church question. 
There is a future for the Reformed Church, 
after many, numerically, more flourishing 
bodies shall have passed away, not only in 
Europe, but in America, especially, in this 
new and wondrous historic epoch. 

Usefulness and theological influence may 
cost much reproach and persecution. But suf- 
fering for the cross of Christ is a testimony of 
love, not of reproach. In this very thing we 
have an inheritance more precious than gold. 
First pure, then peaceable. Our fathers have 
transmitted to us this rich legacy. Theologi- 
cal literature, rich and abundant ; doctrines, 
pure and scriptural; a creed, Catholic and cen- 
tral ; confessors, persecuted and martyred ; a 
history, honored and glorious ; and a mission 
holy and heavenly ; which, if we are true to 
the traditions of the past, whose revival has 



28 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



been so sweet in the late festal jubilee, will 
reveal in us the wondrous love of our blessed 
Lord and Saviour. 

Few other Churches have suffered so much 
wrong, or have been, so blindly misappre- 
hended, so often misunderstood, so cruelly mis- 
represented, and so wantonly abused. None, 
certainly, have borne it with more meekness 
and patience. This virtue has been construed 
into weakness ; and adhering to our Lord's 
rule, not to give back blows for buffetings, has 
cost much robbing by others, of our numeri- 
cal strength. Few, indeed, of other Christian 
bodies, seem well enough acquainted with our 
general character, so broadly written as is our 
history, as to do us common justice. Our 
membership, wealth, literature, churches and 
congregations have been considered common 
property to be seized — if not outright stolen 
— for the use of other bodies. Surely, for all 
this, some day — may it not be a far distant 
day — will God restore us double for all our 
meekly-borne losses. 

GERMAN. 

Because we are of the Reformed Church of 
Germany, we have foolishly, or, at least, un- 
wisely allowed ourselves to be called the Ger- 



GERMAN. 



2 9 



man Reformed Church. It is, however, some- 
thing vastly more than an imagined term of 
reproach. Understood in a proper sense, the 
name is dear to us all — more certainly, on ac- 
count of what the Church has been, than of 
what it is yet to become. The rearward side 
of our historic shield is honorably inscribed 
" German ; " the forward side's legend advanc- 
ing on the future, is " Reformed." 

In transplanting the different branches of 
the Reformed Church from Europe into 
America, it was thought proper to distinguish, 
especially in the colonial times, when differ- 
ent governments were interested here, between 
Dutch and German. It thus came to pass, 
that the particular and specific name, denot- 
ing their national origin and relation to the 
mother Church in the fatherland, came more 
into notice than the generic name of both, "Rer 
formed." German Reformed, our fathers were 
called, to show that they were Germans, and 
were not Reformed Dutch, or English, or 
Scotch. To drop the word German, now that 
times have changed so as no longer to require 
*lt in the same sense in which it was then used, 
is, therefore, not a change of name, but only a 
restoration, a coming back to our original 
name. It is no "innovation!" 

3* 



3° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



While all our churches were German, in the 
language of their worship, the name by which 
we have been generally called was not so glar- 
ingly a misnomer as it is now. A large part 
of the Eeformed Church is using the English 
language in its worship, and its service is 
daily more and more requiring it. While 
these parts of the Church are changing the 
language of their fathers, they, nevertheless, 
retain and cherish, as we reverently and of 
right, should always do, the original Germanic 
genius and spirit of the Church. It is, how- 
ever, exceedingly embarrassing, to say the least, 
to call some congregations English German 
Reformed, and others German German Ee- 
formed. In districts where our Church has 
long existed, and is well and favorably known, 
this absurd contradiction may not be so apparent, 
as in such places the general name, Reformed 
Church, only is, for the most part, used. 
Among the most German of our Germans, the 
name German Eeformed, is hardly ever heard. 
To them it is, almost without exception, the 
Reformierte Kirclie, not Deutseli Reformiert. 
And these are they, who most zealously and 
jealously guard against all attempts to make, 
by Synodical authority, our name what it is 
in fact — simply, The Reformed Church. It is 



SIMPLY REFORMED. 



3* 



nearest to Catholicity, and farthest from 
Schism and Sect heresy, to be The Reformed 
Church. 

The full name, as hitherto recognized by 
the Synod, confuses and confounds those un- 
acquainted with us. If we tell them we are 
German Reformed, they refuse to attend our 
worship because they cannot understand the 
German tongue, — which they are generally 
smart enough to call "Dutch" Tell them, in 
explanation then, that Dutch is not German, 
and that our service is, nevertheless, held in 
English, and they are astonished that we per- 
sist in calling our Church German Reformed, 
when we are English Reformed. Lutherans 
can have English Lutheran congregations as 
well as German Lutheran, but ours must be 
still, though in English, German Reformed ! 
It is the next thing to impossible to educate 
some Yankee and Scotch Irish communities 
into a proper apprehension of the true char- 
acter of our Church with its present title. 
As well might we speak to them of a white 
black bird, or of a big little apple, or of a man- 
boy, as of English German Reformed. 

SIMPLY REFORMED. 

Nay : ours is the Reformed Church, first and 
simply, in the broadest and most general 



32 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



ground of Catholic Unity. "We were born to 
the noble inheritance of that name. What 
need have we for any other, and why should 
we desire any narrower prefix ? The term 
German, as applied to our Reformed Church, 
is an American innovation of scarcely a cen- 
tury's growth. It misrepresents us before the 
public. We say this without meaning any 
disrespect whatever. If other churches that 
claim to be Eeformed, choose to stand outside 
of our Church, which is the mother of this 
whole side of the Reformation, let them be 
responsible for that, and provide themselves 
with particular names, limiting their relation 
to the old Reformed Church. It is not for us, 
certainly, either out of native modesty, or out 
of deference to the assumption of others, to 
limit our Church by any term or provincialism, 
however worthy and respectable that may in 
itself be. 

Room must always be left, as it was in the 
truly Catholic spirit of the Reformed Church's 
faith and confession from the start, by possi- 
bility at least, whether or not in actual fact 
always realized, for embracing, in the arms of 
our Church, not only the Germans and their 
descendants, but also the Americans who come 
from the Swiss, French, and other Reformed 



SIMPLY REFORMED 



33 



branches, which originally accepted our excel- 
lent Heidelberg Catechism, and still cherish a 
love for the same. Nor should we put up a 
bar against the welcome reception into our 
Church of such as may learn to love our sym- 
bol of faith, be they English grown children 
of our German fathers, or be their origin Eng- 
lish, or Scotch, or Irish, or Yankee Ameri- 
can. But hitherto, there has been this serious 
barrier against establishing new congregations, 
especially in our large cities, and English 
communities. 

Our present bounds are not, we trust, to be 
forever the limits of our Church's operations. 
Neither are we barely to provide, stintedly, 
for the wants only of our own material, 
found, as yet, outside of our present organi- 
zations. Nor must we wait, as is generally 
thought necessary, till that material collects 
itself into churches strong enough — or almost 
strong enough — to be self-sustaining. That 
has been too much, the bad and mistaken 
policy of the past; and we have lost many 
thousands of actual members, while we failed 
also to make many more thousands become 
members ; and we have been kept numerically 
be-littled and restricted relatively, instead of 
having grown and expanded, as we might and 
should have done. 



34 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Besides, having thus been limited in the 
more general, extensive and aggressive opera- 
tions of the Church, we have, to a- large ex- 
tent, been prevented from providing — except 
in the way of absurd contradiction — for the 
natural children of our faith, grown English, 
and scattered, by emigration, throughout the 
West. And, as a consequence, they have 
been driven to seek spiritual homes also, else- 
where. Thus the very marrow of her 
strength has been for years steadily drained 
from her life, to supply vigor, and health, and 
fatness to other bodies. Whole communities, 
too, may be found where the very cream of 
our Reformed Church has been, for many 
years, gathered into other denominations, who 
know how to turn to their use and advantage 
our long-continued, persistent and suicidal 
mistakes. To allow this to be any longer the 
case, is a foolishness that should not be per- 
mitted. " Every weight and the sin that doth 
so easily beset " us ought at once to be cast 
aside ; that we may fulfil our mission in this 
age and country, and run the race set before 
US. 

OECUMENICAL SPIRIT. 

Genius and spirit as to nationalities, whether 
social, political or religious, must not keep up 



OECUMENICAL SPIRIT. 



35 



an Irish party, a Scotch clan, a French com- 
mune, or a German verein, or any native Amer- 
icanism, in this country. All excellence is to 
make up the general good of the broad Amer- 
ican life. So it is both unwise, and, in the 
long run, hurtful to our Reformed Church to 
have a foreign national term foisted into our 
name, and bound upon us ; "which makes us 
provincial, and not Catholic. To insist on 
calling ourselves German Reformed, indicates 
a sort of provincial, if not a foreign national 
character, which circumscribes our limits and 
fixes the bounds of our habitations in a rather 
narrow compass. We must return to our 
more Catholic name, The Reformed Church; 
while we remain, as we, in fact, are, and will 
be Germanic, but withal, not German, at least, 
in the language of all our worship. 

The peculiar genius of our theology and 
philosophy, flowing from our time-honored 
confessional symbol of faith, fits us to fill, at 
this auspicious time, an enlarged and important 
mission in our American Protestantism. As 
a trust-worthy, conservative, and mediating 
body, what a future may there not be before 
us ? Not only is that mission possible to us, 
which, as some think, is in the sphere of 
scientific theology and literature, revived and 



36 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



produced, as the best results of Protestantism ; 
but we believe also, as the out-growth of this, 
a call for greatly extended external organ- 
ization. 

We have as much means and calling for the 
one as for the other ; and with faithfulness 
for the work, God will most surely provide 
means as well as give opportunity. North, 
East, West, and South the field is opening 
wide, and Providence directs us to enter and 
occupy. Let nothing, therefore, stand in our 
way or cramp our efforts, or the great work, 
for the most part, must remain undone. 

But not only are we solemnly bound to 
provide for our own scattered material, wher- 
ever it is found, all over this broad land — and 
it is spreading every day more widely than we 
have as yet extended our borders — but, for 
the loose and raw material, we have also a 
right and a duty, too, to mak.e provision. No 
apology need, therefore, be given for planting 
our missions, both German and English, and 
the latter, certainly, no less than the former, 
in any place where God gives us opportunity 
to care for souls, which are yet out of Christ; 
whether they be J e w or Greek, bond or free, 
Irish, English, Yankee or German. The 



(ECUMENICAL SPIRIT. 



37 



province of the Christian Church is to make 
all these one, in Christ Jesus and, certainly, 
the Reformed Church, as commissioned with 
divine powers for such heavenly end, has no 
less right than some of the more modern and 
more pretending and j^resuming bodies, to en- 
gage everywhere in this great work. Any- 
thing that stands in the way of this should, at 
once, be removed ; and we are hampered by 
the term German, as used in our Synodical 
name. Let it, therefore, be dropped ! 

German Reformed, applied to us as a 
body of Christians, subjects us to all sorts of 
misrepresentations. Where the proper char- 
acter of our Church is not known, most super- 
ficial persons conclude that our service is, all 
of necessity, held in the German language. 
Sometimes it is sought to make our very name 
a source of reproach, which, to weak minds, 
and ill-trained youth of German families, it 
may so become. Even the children of some 
German parents have been unable to resist 
the false shame so engendered. Nor are the 
instances few where, under the power of a 
false public opinion, amounting to a kind of 
persecution, the descendants of Germans have 
sought homes in other Churches, whose name 



i 



38 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the public could tolerate, — before they had 
fully lost the accent of their mother tongue. 

DUTCH AND GERMAN. 

Dutch and German are both honorable 
terms of distinction. But in some parts of 
Pennsylvania and the great West, the Ger- 
mans are called " dumb Dutch." And where 
people do not keep up proper distinctions, the 
common term of reproach used also for our 
Church is " Dutch. " With all due deference 
to the superior intelligence and refined fashion 
claimed by the presumptuous Yankee, or ig- 
norant Scotch Irish people who use that term 
in such sense, we must stoutly declare our- 
selves at a loss to see the point of the in- 
tended sarcasm. If to be Dutch were a dis- 
grace it would be of force, not against the 
German Reformed Church, but against our 
brethren of the Reformed Protestant Dutch 
Church, one of the most pious, evangelical, 
intelligent, wealthy, fashionable and influen- 
tial Christian bodies in New J ersey and New 
York. 

Every one, however, boasting no more than 
common intelligence, ought to know that 
Dutch and German are different terms. If not, 



DUTCH AND GERMAN. 



39 



it were high time, surely, that such ignorance 
cease to rule our public sentiment. Let such 
smart (?) people learn that the Dutch do not 
come from Germany ; nor is it any cause for 
shame to Holland, that it is the original home 
of the Dutch, who, though differing in lan- 
guage and nationality from the Germans, yet 
have the same high character for honesty and 
deep earnest piety. " Deutsch" is, however 
not Dutch, but German. 

Properly understood, we are, nevertheless, a 
Germanic Church, both as to origin and type ; 
and it is to be hoped that we may still ever, 
in excellence of character, so remain. Even 
the most English congregations, in which the 
use of the German tongue has long since been 
laid aside, would not like to give up their 
rightful claim to the rich legacy left us, in our 
history, by the martyrs and fathers. The ig- 
norant and superficial only are ashamed of 
the German language, or of its honest life and 
pious spirit; which may be cherished and 
faithfully preserved, long after the practical 
use of the language has* been given 
up. German literature and science, es- 
pecially theological science, cannot now be 
neglected by any true scholar ; though, for the 



40 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



most part, it, per force, speaks to us through 
translations into the English tongue. 

GERMAN PRESBYTERIANS. 

Sometimes it would seem an easy matter 
for others to fix our place among the Churches. 
To be sure, say they, they know us ; we are 
Germans — yes, German Presbyterians ! So 
now, all that are English grown enough to no 
longer just need to worship in the mother 
tongue, may at once come over into their or- 
ganization. We are thus well treated by way 
of convenience, as feeders to different bodies 
of that order, so long as we remain quiet Ger- 
mans and give them the great off-falls, which, 
from year to year, become English enough for 
their use. 

But as soon as we presume to colonize 
our English grown material, then the whole 
case changes. As German Presbyterians, 
we are so much like them, that it is both 
easy and natural for our young people, and 
well-to-do families, generally, to join with 
them. 

But if we are not just German Presbyteri- 
ans, in such sense as to fit all our English 
grown people to leave our Church, and pass 
without hindrance or opposition, over to them, 



UNION OF THE REFORMED. 



41 



that is, the English Presbyterians — -why, then, 
they can find great and amazing difference be- 
tween us and them; such fundamental errors, 
glaring heresies, and Romanizing tendencies 
on our side ; the truth on theirs. And such dif- 
ference would always, not only stand in the way 
of our Church having an English organization 
in their communities, but would especially bar 
any of their people, or others who are not 
just their people, from joining with us. True, 
it is, we are as much Presbyterian, so far as 
that word had church meaning, as the best of 
them ; but we are still in spirit and life none 
the less broadly, Reformed. We have, a hun- 
dred years, an older right to Calvin than they; 
and certainly, the same argument too, as the}', 
for a right to an existence in America ; for 
they are as foreign as we to the home of the 
native red man. We are not here to-day, 
merely in the way of sufferance. In our 
German or English congregations, in homes 
long since established, or in newly occupied 
Mission fields, we claim a divine right, equal 
with others, to exist as a Church. 

UNION OF THE REFORMED. 

Holding in common with us, the Heidelberg 
Catechism, the Reformed Dutch Church stands 

4* 



42 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



in so far, very intimately related to us. In- 
deed, our relationship is peculiar. While we 
remember, with humble satisfaction, that they 
received the Catechism from our Church, we 
must also be careful not to forget that we owe 
to them the early support and material help 
which our missions in this country received 
at their hands. These two considerations, 
making a mutual bond of love and gratitude, 
to bind us and them together, may lead to 
reflections covering a most interesting point of 
our common history. In these times, when it 
behooves Christians generally, not so much to 
seek out and bring forward and hold up mu- 
tual differences ; but in the true spirit of 
Catholic Unity, to study and discuss, and more 
clearly settle the common faith ; in these days 
then ought not we and they, already so nearly 
related, make some honest Christian efforts to 
be united in one communion ? 

Already earnest hearts are yearning for the 
coming of that day, when, at least, these two 
Eeformed bodies who ought to be so much 
alike, having one faith, and, to a great degree, 
one common history, and great similarity of 
government also, may unite their destiny in 
one mission, and thus have one common pur- 
pose of increasing and enlarging power for 



UNION OF THE REFORMED. 



43 



good. In union there is strength; and be- 
yond estimation, would be that of the full and 
hearty union of these two Reformed bodies ! 
It is at once felt that there is much in the 
fact that we have the common family name, 
" Reformed ; " and then, also, that our Heid- 
elberg Catechism is mutually loved and hon- 
ored, gives a broad stand-point at the start to 
rest on. Then dropping oar particular cog- 
nomen, German, and their distinctive Dutch ; 
and there remains to both, only the proper 
generic name, The Reformed Church ! 

Can there be no Convention established, in 
which the several parts may remain free, as 
individual members of a family are free, while 
at the same time, they are united in one family 
bond? We believe that, with earnest faith 
and prayer, this could be done. The several 
Synods, as to their internal organizations and 
operations, should, for the present, at least, 
remain intact; and yet, there could be a 
union of the whole, in a General Convention, 
or Assembly, or Council. 

Mutual advantage to each other, there 
would doubtless be, beside the general good 
gained in the enlarged power for usefulness by 
the whole united body. One part has means, 
wealth, men to spare for new labors, and me- 



44 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tropolitan influence — though but limited fields 
of work in circumscribed bounds ; the other 
part has unbounded fields ripe for the harvest, 
acknowledged theological life and power, with 
but limited available wealth, inadequate num- 
ber of men to labor, and a substantial rural 
population to rest upon, as a broad substratum 
for future enlargement. 

Combine these two and they mutually sup- 
plement each other. Who shall say, that in 
this fact alone, there is not a Providential 
voice, calling to an earnest consideration of this 
very important matter ? In this union there 
would be, to begin with, in round numbers, a 
thousand ministers, several thousand congre- 
gations, a quarter of a million communicant 
members, which, together with as large a num- 
ber of baptized members, and then an equal 
population yet outside, but under the imme- 
diate influence of our symbol, would make in 
total numbers, perhaps, a million souls. 
With such a beginning, who could estimate 
the future of the Reformed Church in Amer- 
ica ? 

OUR DUTY. 

But for us, whatever others may be or do, 
the scope of our duty is plain. We of the 



OUR DUTY. 



45 



Reformed Church, must be true to our history ; 
and then our history will finally vindicate us. 
As to the Reformation. Lutherans are only the 
other part of us, which, as they say. is the 
" better-half." Presbyterians are not the over- 
shadowing whole of us. of which we are but 
a very small integer, as some affect to think. 
And Puritanism, though it be New England, is 
not yet the United States. Nor is the Episco- 
pal Church alone, and only The Church, as the 
claim is set up . Neither do we believe that 
the Dutch Church is so Dutch as to be, en- 
tirely and forever, hostile to our German, 
so as to keep us irreconcilably apart. And 
even the later, and, to a great degree, unhis- 
torical sects, when once relieved of their 
pious fanaticism and blinded bigotry, may find 
that the old Reformed Church is not fossil- 
ized. 

Verily, if we are alive, and true to the 
power of our life, they, and the world, will 
yet know it. True life may, for a while, be 
unobserved. Its quiet, though real workings 
may not be noticed, for a time, by the noisy 
bustle around. But even silent powers will, 
sooner or later, be felt. Has then God, per- 
haps, mysteriously given us hitherto, a silent 
life, only that its power may, in due time, be 



4 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the more effectually felt? Most assuredly, 
He has given us a work now to do. Let us 
then, work while it is called to-day. 

You may be sure, that if we faithfully go 
forward in our high calling, with busy and 
steady activity, others will soon begin to take 
knowledge of us. The Reformed Church, in 
the last score of years, has been making his- 
tory, as well as working, and suffering, and 
growing. Getting back, historically, to a 
fuller self-consciousness of the old Reformed 
life, ideas, habit of thought, and church faith 
and cultus, was the first step towards the 
true revival with which we have been blest. 
While others looked on, wondered, quarrelled, 
persecuted, and, for a while, withdrew from 
us, the Reformed Church had grace given to 
bear this testimony for Jesus; which is a 
blessed gift. 

Joining heartily, in humble thanksgiving to 
our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, 
for His mercy and grace hitherto given us, we 
make this record of His loving-kindness and 
long-suffering to-usward; and pray Him to 
vouchsafe to us His truth and love in the 
coming time, that we " may, with one mind 
and one mouth, glorify God, even the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." 



CHAPTER II. 



THE REFORMED CHURCH. 

E have a history, starting back in the di- 



T I vine-human life, of the Holy Catholic 
Church, which we delight to cherish and honor. 
Our faith joins itself to the living Christianity 
of the Apostles Creed. The Reformation was 
not the beginning of church life, but a setting 
free rather from human enthralment of the 
holy life which is of divine origin in the Person 
of the God-man. 

The Holy Catholic Church, our Catechism 
teaches, " the Son of God from the beginning 
to the end of the world, gathers, defends and 
preserves to Himself, by His Spirit and word, 
out of the whole human race, — chosen to ever- 
lasting life, agreeing in true faith." This is 
the Church which the Apostle Paul calls "the 
body of Christ, the fulness of him that filleth 
all in all." As "the ground and pillar of the 
truth," as well as from the promise of its 
Founder, it can never fail. It must always 




47 



48 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



be found on the earth, among men, for the 
saving of their lost souls. 

Of course, this Church is made up of sepa- 
rate members, or living parts ; not atomistic, 
nor yet conglomerate, but each holding duly 
its organic relation to the whole. These parts 
must all partake in full of the same super- 
natural, divine power of life that flows from 
the Great Head through the whole body. 
Without entering further, theologically, into 
its nature and attributes, the Church may be 
called : A supernatural order, divinely insti- 
tuted, bearing through all time, the covenanted 
promises of God and the benefits of the life of 
the Blessed Redeemer to dying men; and bring- 
ing this Gospel to them in the Word and Sac- 
raments. 

The history of this divine institution may 
be studied in its parts. Each of these, if pro- 
perly taken, no matter how small, cannot fail 
to be interesting and profitable. In earlier 
times the different parts of the Church were 
designated by the name of the metropolis of 
the country in which they were established. 
Thus we have the Church of Jerusalem, the 
Church of Ephesus, the Church of Antioch, 
the Church of Alexandria, the Church of 
Rome, and the Church of Constantinople. In 
more modern times the distinction of the seve- 



THE REFORMED CHURCH. 



49 



ral parts is made by a different system of 
names. These often are more or less arbi- 
trary, in some cases particularly unfortunate, 
and thus become misnomers leading to wrong 
conclusions. Some are named from the form 
of Church government obtaining in them, as 
Episcopalian and Presbyterian. Others are 
called after the names of men, as Lutherans 
and Swedenborgians. Besides these, others 
are named from different circumstances, such 
as nationality, as for instance the Greeks and 
Latins, Romans, Russian, and English. All 
these names, unless explained in their iimited, 
special and derived meanings, do not convey a 
correct idea of what they are intended to 
stand for. 

For example : Those we know as Episco- 
palians are not the only ones who have that 
form of government; for on the Continent of 
Europe whole nations are Lutheran with an 
Episcopal organization. The same corre- 
sponding remark may be made as to Presby- 
terians, for other Churches that bear not that 
name are governed by the same order ; and 
indeed originated it for them. Romanists do 
not all live in Rome, nor do they all come 
from thence, just as little as Cumberland Pres- 
byterians, from the river of that name. Bap- 

5 



50 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tism does not belong exclusively to the Bap- 
tists ; but was held in honor hundreds of 
years before Baptists were known. So Pu- 
ritans, par excellence, it is well known are 
only pure above some other Christians, in 
name. And Methodists, as now known, are 
doubtless equalled in good methods of religious 
life by many others of different names. 

All this goes to show how true it is, that 
there is great liability to be misled by these 
names, without knowing their special mean- 
ing. But none of these seem more easily mis- 
taken than our own. It is perhaps one of the 
necessary evils, which time may remove. 

In order to obviate, measurably at least 
among us, the necessity for complaint for time 
to come, it has been thought proper to make 
a few plain statements in regard to the ori- 
gin and genius of our Reformed Church. Our 
object is to do justice to ourselves without 
harming others. 

GENERAL RELATIONS. 

We are not named after any human teacher. 
Our Church finds its life in the broad stream 
of Church history, flowing from Jesus Christ, 
the primal fount and source. The term Re- 
formed, refers at once to the central idea in 



GENERAL RELATIONS. 5 1 

the " Reformation " as developing God's plan 
in the history of His Church. Ulric Zwingli 
is regarded, we are aware, by some, as the chief 
leader of the Reformed Church. It is perhaps 
difficult to find a probable reason for this — un- 
less it be, that other churches had their origin 
in some special doctrine and teaching of par- 
ticular men, as Lutherans, Wesleyans, and 
Campbellites, And so it is sought to refer the 
Reformed Church to the leadership of the first 
and chief Swiss Reformer; as that which 
made up the other side of the Reformation, 
was called after the chief leader in Germany. 

The providence of God, in the Sixteenth 
Century, as we know full well, gave birth to 
one of the most important movements in the 
History of the Church, which the world has 
ever beheld. No event more sublime in its 
far-reaching consequences, according to both 
the Roman and Protestant views, has engaged 
the attention of Christendom, than the Refor- 
mation movement in Germany more than 
three hundred years ago. In the hands of 
men, it became, of course, modified by the per- 
sonal characters that were represented in the 
human factors, used under God in working 
out the Great Reformation. The different 
men, the marks of whose characters were im- 



52 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



pressed upon the age which they contributed 
in forming as to its special conditions, gave 
difference of feature to the history of the times. 

Each Reformer found the mighty problem, 
with which he grappled in all the earnestness 
of his soul's search after truth, dimly adum- 
brated in the glimmering light of the new 
dawn, evolving more in result than his own 
individual powers could well dispose of. Per- 
sonal surprise followed the results of each 
one's labor. The age indeed itself was en- 
gendering consequences big with historic im- 
port and meaning for the subsequent ages of 
the Church and the world. The seed then 
germinating has since been bearing fruit, some 
legitimate, and some of abnormal growth. 

Even the giant mind of Luther, had it been 
left to carry on the work itself alone, would 
have doubtless in more than one sense, be- 
gotten but a puny and an abortive Reforma- 
tion. Quite as one-sided and monstrous also, 
would have been the probable result, had it 
depended for its character alone on the perso- 
nality of Calvin, Zwingli, Melancthon, Beza 
or Knox, according as the peculiarities and de- 
ficiencies of each were apparent in the special 
part of the general work they had to do. The 
glory of the Reformation is then, not dimin- 



GENERAL RELATIONS. 



53 



ished, but only the more fully completed and 
perfected rather, because different characters 
were engaged in contributing towards the for- 
mation of its general life. Its divine warrant 
as a historical truth may be found just in the 
fact that it broke out as it were, spontane- 
ously in Switzerland and Germany and France, 
without pre-concert on the part of its leading 
spirits — and that other countries were pre- 
pared in the same Providential way to accept 
at once the great principle evolved. 

The principle of history, which Providence 
designed here to develop, was more than any 
one of those illustrious Reformers could have 
managed single handed. As a whole the re- 
sult was more than they severally anticipated ; 
which fact may itself account for some appa- 
rent or real inconsistencies. So each opposed, 
more or less, what he thought was illegiti- 
mately developed by the labors of the others, 
differing from his own. About the middle 
of the Sixteenth Century, all the variations, as 
they have been sneeringly called, of these va- 
riously modified tendencies, had, however, 
come to flow in the two main channels of the 
embodied consciousness of historic life in the 
great movement, called technically, the Re- 
formed and the Lutheran. 

5* 



54 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



We have, the Reformed Church differing 
from the Lutheran, as is manifest in contro- 
versies early arising in the Reformation period. 
The Reformed family includes all that part of 
the orthodox Reformation in Germany that 
was not Lutheran; besides also chiefly the 
Protestant Churches of Switzerland, of France, 
of the Netherlands or Holland, of England 
and Scotland, of Poland and Hungary. In 
the Palatinate of Germany, a former well 
known political division, now however not 
easily recognized in its original limits — em- 
bracing the beautiful Rhine Provinces, we 
have the original home of the distinctive 
branch of the Reformed family known here, 
the last half century, as the German Reformed 
Church. 

But the Reformed Church, even of the Pa- 
latinate, was not merely itself a Reform from 
Lutheranism. It carries in its bosom every 
where, the results of the free Swiss Reform 
and Sacramental Calvinism, as well as the 
final and best products of the Augsburg Con- 
fession, as altered and defended by Melanc- 
thon after he had come into friendly contact 
with the Swiss Reformers. 

All this, as organically embodied in the Hei- 
delberg Catechism, was so generally in har- 



ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 55 

mony with the conscious mind of the imLu- 
theran part of the Reformation — that nearly 
all branches of the great Reformed family 
very soon, as it were, spontaneously adopted 
it as authority for their faith. This was the 
case before distinctive Lutheranism had its 
final symbol. So that not only is the Swiss 
Reform as old, if not indeed older than that 
of Luther j but the most general symbol of 
the Reformed Church is before that of ultra 
Lutheranism, the Concordiae Formula. 

ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 

The one tendency of the German Reforma- 
tion, especially in the Palatinate rejected by 
high Lutheranism, had to embody itself in 
some form, if its results were not to be lost. 
The Augsburg Confession was the first and 
most general symbol of Protestantism. It is 
well known that Calvin himself, while ban- 
ished from Geneva, had subscribed it, in its 
altered form, at Strasburg. In this altered 
form it is Melancthonian, and not distinctively, 
ultra Lutheranism. This last, as opposing the 
tendency embodied in the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism, is to be found in the Concordice Form- 
ula. Th*e dividing lines, not well defined at 
first, appear more plainly drawn about the 



5& 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



middle of the latter half of the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury. Thus, the result of this controversy 
came to fruit in the Heidelberg Catechism as 
the symbol of the one more moderate party ; 
and somewhat later in the Formula Concordise 
for the ultra Lutheran party. Here then we 
have the two tendencies defined by their own 
names ; Reformed on the one side, and on the 
other Lutheran. The Reformed Church is 
then, that part of the Reformation which stea- 
dily and calmly refused to become ultra Lu- 
theran. 

The two separate main branches into which 
the great Reformation movement had divided, 
as we have already seen, held of course much 
in common faith ; just as all Christians must 
hold the fundamental doctrines of our com- 
mon Christianity. The main and essential 
articles of belief, always necessary to the ex- 
istence of a positive Christian faith, as settled 
by the Church, were held with equal care and 
jealousy by both. Both were Protestant, and 
both also Evangelical. The Bible, as the pro- 
duct of the early Church, whose living mem- 
bers were especially inspired for that work, 
was the highest absolute authority in matters 
of faith and practice. The Apostles' Creed, 
being also the product of the living Church, in 



ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 57 

its purity, was the acknowledged summary of 
revealed truth, to which all must subscribe. 
The Ten Commandments, and the Lord's 
Prayer were respected by both branches of 
the Reform. All these were made the most 
general basis of all true Protestantism; and on 
these their symbolical books were constructed. 
Even the Roman Catholic Catechism of the 
Council of Trent is a later attempt on the 
same model. 

The greatest points of difference, nowever, 
arising between the Reformers, were, in regard 
to the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. 
This was the first, the deepest, and the most 
lasting cause of their bitterest controversies 
and theological wars. While living, Luther 
had taken open and determined ground 
against Zwingli and the other Swiss Reform- 
ers; and after these two great leaders were 
both in their graves, the same cause tended 
to keep up the war still fiercely raging among 
their respective followers — who, on the one 
side, seemed to become more extreme, as, on the 
other, was manifested more moderation. Lu- 
ther's remarkable instructions to Melancthon 
to draw up an article after his death, modi- 
fying his teachings on this doctrine, seem to 
show that he himself began to entertain views 



58 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



nearer those now held by the Reformed 
Chureh ; than some of his earlier opinions ex- 
pressed in the heat of controversy set forth 
his dogma. 

While Lutheran Germany was thus en- 
gaged in opposing Reformed Switzerland, there 
was a party growing up in Germany itself, 
that was distracting the original home of the 
Lutheran dogma, and in the end added another 
force to the Reformed side. This was the 
Crypto-Calvinist, or secret Calvinist party, 
as they were called, who adopted the sacra- 
mental views of Geneva. At the head of this 
movement in Germany, it was generally sup- 
posed stood the illustrious co-laborer of Lu- 
ther, Magistev Philip Melancthon, who had 
himself greatly modified his views, as we have 
seen, after his better acquaintance with the 
Swiss Reformers. This was apparent in his 
altered Augsburg Confession, revised by his 
own hand; and also from his known more 
moderate teachings after Luther's death. His 
later modified theological views gave great 
offence to the hyper-orthodox Lutheran party. 

When the Elector, Frederick the Third, 
surnamed the Pious, came to the head of the 
Palatinate, he found it torn with dissensions 
and bitter theological wars. To remove these 



ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 59 



out of the way, was the first and most impor- 
tant work in which he, as a Christian prince, 
engaged. His course, however, called forth 
the full strength of the party in opposition to 
the Keformed, and their mad zeal set forth 
such extreme conditions of orthodoxy, that the 
Prince himself refused adherence to the same. 
He openly joined the Reformed, and there- 
upon deposed some of the most violent agita- 
tors among the professors at Heidelberg, sup- 
plying their places with such men as were re- 
commended to his favor by the venerable Me- 
lancthon. 

Resolving upon forever effectually settling 
the disputes, he thought the only way to do so, 
was to form a new and more definite Confes- 
sion of Faith than that of Augsburg had proven 
itself to be ; and for this purpose he wrote to 
Melancthon himself, * the father of the Augs- 
burg Confession, asking his advice. To this, 
the now aged and always peace-loving Re- 
former, gave his hearty approbation. He was 
not allowed to live to see this recommendation 
carried into effect ; for nearing his heavenly 
home, he soon after, having prayed to be de- 
livered from the fury of the theologians, fell 
peacefully asleep in Jesus, and so never be- 
came fully committed to the Reformed side. 



6o 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The Reform, however, in the Palatinate, 
among the later trophies of Protestantism, 
even before the accession of Frederick the 
Pious, was not strictly one with violent Lu- 
theranism in other parts of Germany; nor 
could that ever be forced upon the Church 
generally here. The influence of the Swiss 
Reformers from the start modified the charac- 
ter of its reformation type. So that when we 
compare its previous character with what it later 
became, under the teachings of the Heidelberg 
Catechism, we find that it had not in reality 
changed as much as it would have to do in 
order, if compelled, to accept the high Lu- 
theran symbols, which afterwards by Freder- 
ick's successor, Louis, were for a time forced 
upon it. 

After Melancthon's death, (1559), the Pala- 
tinate became thoroughly reformed, (1561) 
and two years subsequently to this (19 th Jan. 
1563) the Heidelberg Catechism was pub- 
lished. Thus the Reformed Church of Ger- 
many had now a distinct and definite exist- 
ence, and a symbol of faith begotten from her 
own warm and peaceful Christian life. And 
though ever careful to preserve her excellent 
confession with sacred fidelity, as a mother 
naturally cherishes her much loved offspring, 



ORIGIN OF THE REFORMED CHURCH. 6l 



from the abuses and misrepresentation of ene- 
mies at home and abroad ; yet with a royal 
liberality, she munificently bestowed this pre- 
cious fruit of her labors upon a large part of 
the Protestant Church. Here it is well known, 
giving does not impoverish, nor would with- 
holding enrich. It might at least be expected, 
however, that those who have received so 
much at the hands of our Reformed Church, 
instead of heaping upon her slanderous re- 
proaches, should show her some small degree 
of kindness and gratitude. 

In producing the Heidelberg Catechism, the 
Reformed Church has achieved for herself a 
name and an honorable distinction, which we 
may well consider a glorious inheritance. 
With nothing more than this, our legacy 
were indeed rich. The numerous little up- 
start sects with which we are surrounded, 
sects that have little or no historical warrant 
for their existence, need not expect us to feel 
ashamed in their presence, till they graciously 
bid us welcome to a place beside them. We 
need not go with heads bowed down on ac- 
count of our origin. The Church of the Hei- 
delberg Catechism might have something 
whereof to glory — but still, let her head be 
crowned, as always hitherto, with humility 

G 



62 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



and peace. May we all imbibe more of her 
original spirit and true Reformed life ! 

ELEMENTS IN THE LIFE OF THE REFORMED 
CHURCH. 

The constituent elements that entered into 
the life of the Reformed Church of Germany 
may be considered cf a threefold character. 
We may class them as the old Swiss Reform, 
or the best side of Zwinglianism; in organic 
combination with the moderate Melancthonian 
school of Germany, and sacramental Calvin- 
ism. These different elements could not con- 
sistently have entered into any Church named 
after an individual Reformer. It is one prime 
blessing, therefore, that our Church bears the 
name of no man. 

1. The extreme and bald side of the sacra- 
mental views of Zwingli were never fully re- 
ceived and entertained by any large number 
of even the Swiss Reformers, excellent and 
numerous as they were. But as representing 
in its spirit the evangelical tendency and free 
principle of the Reform, much of Zwingli's 
teaching was extensively popular and influen- 
tial during his short, though brilliant lifetime; 
and after his martyr death, both at home 
among his fellow laborers and abroad in 
France and Germany, it was no less honored. 



ELEMENTS *N LIFE OF REFORMED CHURCH. 63 



His system was characterized by clearness 
and simplicity; which recommended it to many 
who congenially harmonize with it in spirit. 
The plain and open simplicity of the Palati- 
nate, as well as of Switzerland, was remarka- 
ble. To this was the Zwinglian element well 
suited. Accordingly, we find this tendency 
freely entering into the formation of the genius 
of the Reformed Church in the Palatinate, 
and its presence in the Catechism is no less 
marked. 

2. The Melancthonian element in theology 
was also largely prevalent in Germany at the 
time the Palatinate passed over formally to 
the Reformed side. It is well known that 
Melancthon, in his theology and life, was al- 
ways more moderate and mild than Luther. 
After the death of the latter, the rougher and 
more repulsive tendencies of the Reformation, 
measurably lost all power over the gentle and 
peace-loving Philip. His known intimacy 
with Calvin and friendly correspondence with 
others of the Reformed party; his evident 
preference for the altered form of the Augs- 
burg Confession ; these, as well as other con- 
siderations, brought upon him much reproach 
from those who suspected him for being him- 
self a Crypto-Calvinist, or at least secretly 



6 4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



favoring, if not in actual league with, the Re- 
formed movement. The Melancthonian ele- 
ment then, was not Lutheranism, either strictly 
primitive, and certainly not of the more mod- 
ern type ; but it must be regarded rather, as 
the best results of a happy union of the Ger- 
man with the Swiss Reformers, whose inter- 
course with him brought forth ripe fruit in his 
own mind's rich soil. While it made account 
of the first and most general products of Pro- 
testantism; it, at the same time, acknowl- 
edged and made room for the complemental 
parts afterwards evolved from its proper life 

The spirit of moderation and compromise, 
thus embodied and professed, had become 
wide spread in the Palatinate, and to a great 
extent throughout Germany. Of course, a 
living principle like this would seek to incor- 
porate and reproduce itself; and so we have 
another element prepared to enter into the life 
of the Reformed Church. 

3. As a third constituent, we nave sacra, 
mental Calvinism. This we find vigorously 
alive in the Heidelberg Catechism. The in- 
fluence of Calvin as a theological teacher, was 
greater than any other one Reformer. His 
teaching at that time, had not yet been carried 



ELEMENTS IN LIFE OF REFORMED CHURCH. 65 



out one-sidedly on a few of the "points/'as has 
since been done. What was meant by Calvi 
nism then, was something vastly more than 
merely a rigid construction of his doctrines of 
election, predestination, and others, making up 
the "five points." True Calvinism is some- 
thing far less bony and knotty. While it in- 
cludes of course these, in moderation and har- 
mony, they must be subordinate always to his 
general theological system, which also makes 
large room for the doctrine of the Sacraments, 
as always before the other teachings, and of the 
first and highest importance. It is a remarka- 
ble fact worth notice, that wherever and when- 
ever the sacramental side of Calvinism is in 
honor, the "five points" are of a secondary im- 
portance : and vice versa. 

The rich significance and deeply mystical 
and sacramental views of Calvin will always be 
mentioned as his chief glory. It was this 
part of his system, to which the high Lu- 
therans of Germany so much objected. Tor 
it is well known, that on the doctrine of pre- 
destination, and the like, all the Reformers at 
first* agreed. There was no difference here 
till afterwards. 

Germany as well as Geneva acknowledged, 
in its religious consciousness, the spiritual real 

6* 



66 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



presence of our Lord in the Holy Supper. The 
believer s soul receives here, not only a sign 
visible to the senses, but a seal also, of the in- 
visible grace communicated. This was taught 
by the Reformed Church, from the beginning, 
and is now firmly maintained. 

These three main elements composed the 
original life of the Church of the Heidelberg 
Catechism. This marked identity has been 
preserved for three hundred years. The clear, 
simple, evangelical, Zwinglian spirit: the mild, 
philosophical, moderate, gentle and churchly 
spirit of Melancthon ; and the mystical, sys- 
tematic and withal rigid spirit of the great 
Geneva Reformer, are found combined in living 
harmony in our Church. They all breathe in 
living organic union in the Catechism, and are 
honored by the Church now. No part or parcel 
is repudiated to suit the spirit of the age. Willi 
growing zeal this symbol is cherished, with not 
one point obscured nor one line erased at the 
beck of rationalistic tendencies. The whole 
is received and taught ex animd, without either 
fear or shame. The Reformed Church of the 
Palatinate was thus Providentially intended 
from the beginning to be an honest compro- 
mise between the extreme elements of the Re- 
formation ; and during the whole of its subse- 



OTHER BRANCHES OF THE REFORMED FAMILY. 67 



quent history, its place seems to have been 
that of a mediating body. In this position, it 
may have much to do in subsequent years, if it 
proves true to its divine mission. 

OTHER BRANCHES OF THE REFORMED FAMILY 

The Reformed tendency, as one main 
branch of the Reformation, was itself, how- 
ever, not a unit in outward organization. Its 
branches differed in government, in customs, 
and in national life. The Reformed Church 
of England maintained the Episcopal order. 
Some were extremely simple and free in wor- 
ship and in faith; while others are much 
more rich and full in Creed and Cultus. The 
Reformed Church of Switzerland maintained 
at first, a separate existence and was, in a cer- 
tain sense, independent of the Church in 
Germany. The same may be said of France, 
Hungary, Poland and Holland. These all be- 
longed to the Reformed family, as differing 
from the Lutheran. Each, at first, had sepa- 
rate confessions. The Belgic confession was 
formed for the Netherlands, the Gallic con- 
fession for France, the Helvetic confession for 
Switzerland, etc. 

Bat when the Palatinate had become Re- 
formed, as we have seen, a new confession or 



68 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



rule of faith was ordered to be made expressly 
for it. This gave occasion for the formation 
of the renowned and highly prized Heidelberg 
Catechism. In the formation of this confes- 
sion, its framers, Caspar Olevianus and Zacha- 
rias Ursinus, made large drafts, of course, on 
others already existing. The excellence of 
the Catechism was such, that it at once was 
made, in a measure, to take the place of all 
others in the Reformed Churches ; formed, as 
it was, very opportunely, when it seems there 
was just enough theological life in active ex- 
ercise to secure for it a sufficient embodiment 
of that; and yet, no extreme tendency was 
preponderant, as the result of violent contro- 
versy to make it partizan and one-sided. A 
prominent Doctor of Divinity, in the Luther- 
an Church of this country, says, that the one 
half of the Reformed confession is Lutheran, 
which he very much admires, and if only the 
other half were Lutheran also, he could love 
it much more. This, at least, shows how 
much of the good fruits of the primitive con- 
fession of Protestantism has been embodied in 
the Reformed Symbol, along with the other 
excellencies developed in other tendencies, 
and also, the later fruits of the general church 
life in that wonderful age. 



OTHER BRANCHES OF THE REFORMED FAMILY. 69 



We find, accordingly, that it was extensive- 
ly popular from the first — just what the 
wants of the age required. Its influence and 
authority were not confined to the Palatinate, 
for which it was originally intended. Other 
parts of Germany soon received it as their 
standard, as Hesse, Nassau, Friesland, and the 
free cities along the Rhine. The different 
Protestant cantons of Switzerland, acknowl- 
edged it as their authorized symbol of faith. 
The Reformed Church of Hungary introduced 
it into the churches and schools — and the 
teacher as well as the minister had to swear 
fidelity to its doctrines. Poland made it the 
exponent of its creed. In Holland it was re- 
ceived as the fundamental text book in the- 
ology, and has ever since been held there in 
high honor. Protestantism in England and 
Scotland owe also, much to the Heidelberg 
Catechism. The Westminster assembly of 
divines were not without indebtedness to our 
confession, in the formation of theirs, the 
larger and smaller Catechisms, almost a hun- 
dred years after our own had been given to 
the world. 

We were stopping during one of our Syn- 
odical meetings in a hospitable Presbyterian 
family ; they were much surprised to find that 



7 o 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



we transacted our business in English, and 
were, in government and doctrine, very much 
like the Presbyterians. " Why don't you 
join the Presbyterians?" asked the Judge and 
his daughter, at the same time. " For-a-hun- 
dred-years-a-better-reason," we replied, " than 
that the Presbyterians do not all join our 
Church." There are many like the Judge in 
this respect — we might join them, not they 
us. Westminster is younger than Heidelberg. 

Thus we find, that the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism, the Confession of faith of the Reformed 
Church, had become well nigh the universal 
symbol of faith for the whole Reformed fam- 
ily, before that of Westminster was made. 

It was soon translated into some fourteen 
or more, classic, Ancient and Modern lan- 
guages. In all these it is the Heidelberg 
Catechism still, embodying no less the spirit 
and genius of the Reformed Church, with- 
out respect to language or people or place. 
And so we find it also, honored in the 
English congregations of our Church in this 
country, quite as much as in those where the 
mother tongue, the German, is exclusively 
used. 

It shows, therefore, no small lack of histor- 
ical knowledge — nay, rather palpable and in- 



IN ITS EARLY HOME. 



7* 



excusable ignorance — in many American de- 
nominations; younger than we by some one or 
two, perhaps, even three hundred years, to 
set us down as an insignificant and compara- 
tively, an unknown " little Dutch church." 
Some such we have met, who suppose our 
only distinctive character and right to a sepa- 
rate existence is the German language, in 
which, as our fathers, so it is thought, we 
ought to worship ; and it is learnedly (?) pre- 
sumed from our name hitherto that we must, 
of necessity, always use German in our public 
services. 

IN ITS EARLY HOME. 

During the happy reign of Frederick, the 
Third, which terminated with his death, Oct. 
26th, 1576, the Reformed Church greatly 
prospered in the Palatinate and the countries 
adjacent, professing the same faith. At his 
death, however, his eldest son, Louis, a strict 
Lutheran, inherited his father's dominions, 
and suppressed the Reformed Church in the 
Palatinate. This was of but short duration. 
His early death called the second son of Fred- 
erick, Prince John Casimer, to administer the 
affairs of State till the majority of Frederick 
IV. He was, like his father, Reformed, and 



7 2 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



fully restored the order of things to the con- 
dition in which the pious Frederick had left 
them.* 

This state of prosperity continued, till the 
breaking out of the memorable Thirty Years' 
war, in which Romanism in religion and tyr- 
anny in politics triumphed over reform and 
liberty. The ministers of the Reformed 
churches were driven from the Palatinate, and 
foreign Roman Monks came in to take the 
places thus made vacant. The Catechism 
was banished — and the University of Heidel- 
berg, once the stronghold of Reformed doc- 
trine, was converted into a Jesuit college. 

The Protestant champion, Gustavus Adol- 
phus, brought a transitory relief to the Re- 
formed cause in the Palatinate and elsewhere, 
by the triumph of his arms over the Roman 
Catholic enemy. But after his death, more 
cruelly blasting came wars and disasters, ra- 
pine and violence, famine and pestilence, and 
for years, Vandalism and Romanism caused 
the whole land to groan under an indescriba- 
ble weight of sorrows. Having suffered much 
tribulation and persecution, at length the 
peace of Westphalia re-established the Re- 
formed Church in her original home. 



*See article on Frederick in Tercentenary Monument. Published 
by S. R. Fisher & Co., Philadelphia. 



IN ITS EARLY HOME. 



73 



Soon after, other political changes, unfortu- 
nately, brought a Roman Catholic Prince to 
the head of the government, and the Re- 
formed faith was again suppressed in the Palat- 
inate. Heidelberg, and its University, was 
sacked, first by the Bavarians, under Tilley, 
in 1622. The library was destined, in part, 
to make bedding for the horses of their cav- 
alry, and a large and valuable part was 
carried off to enrich the Pope's library in the 
Vatican at Rome. Afterwards, it was taken 
by the French, in 1688, and again in 1693, 
when the whole city became a sightless heap 
of black, burnt ruins. 

From these calamities, which the Reformed 
Church suffered in its birth-place and original 
home, it has never fully recovered. Thus we 
find what was once the head of the Reformed 
family, is now only a comparatively weak 
member. It still maintains, however, an ex- 
istence. The Palatines emigrated to other 
countries. In Switzerland, it has always had 
a home, and the political revolutions during 
the last three hundred years, have not yet 
destroyed the Reformed faith there. In Hol- 
land it has constantly maintained a vigorous 
life. Scarcely any traces of it can be found 

7 



74 



CP.EED AND CUSTOMS. 



in Poland, and Hungary, and many other 
places where it once promised so fair. 

In France, in the days of King Henry the 
Fourth, of Navarre, it was a respectable and 
influential power in the state. The King 
himself, at first, and such men as Admiral 
Coligny and Prince of Conde, were of the Re- 
formed side. By long continued and fierce 
persecutions, there are, however, but few of 
the Reformed faith left in sunny France. 
Though even now are found among her vine- 
clad hills, notwithstanding a St. Bartholomew's 
eve and the different crusades, some warm- 
hearted sons of the Reformed Church, singing 
the songs of Zion. Of the thirty-eight mil- 
lions of inhabitants of the French Empire, it 
is estimated that there are two millions Prot- 
estants — the majority of whom profess the 
faith of the Reformed Church. 

The Royal house of Prussia, and a large 
part of the population belong to the Reformed 
Church. A union, for political considerations, 
was made in 1817, of the Lutheran and Re- 
formed, into what is called, the Evangeli- 
cal or United Church. This name, some for- 
eign Germans retain in this country, or, where 
such ai> organization cannot be kept up, they 
most generally, join in with the Evangelical 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 75 



Lutheran Church, as being more nearly, in 
sound; at least, allied to that which they so 
fondly cherish in memory of their Fatherland. 
By a recent arrangement, however, each com- 
munion in Prussia, we believe, may again 
hold, subordinate!}' to the general union, its 
own separate existence and use its own con. 
fession and symbol of faith. It would be too 
tedious to mention the separate Reformed or- 
ganizations in the different smaller German 
States. The Church in Europe, generally, is 
awakening to new consciousness and life ; but 
mainly, in the form of high Lutheranism. 

THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 

Its origin dates back to about a hundred 
and fifty years ago. Settlements were made 
by Ge/man Reformed emigrants, in the colo- 
nies of New York, New J ersey, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Little 
was done, however, towards organizing 
churches and congregations, till the middle of 
the last century. 

A missionary body in Holland furnished, 
from time to time, men and money towards 
supplying the gospel means of grace to the 
destitute inhabitants of the Reformed faith in 
the new world. The principal missionaries 



7 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



came from the Reformed Church of Switzer- 
land and Germany. Among the most note- 
worthy of these, w r as one Rev. Michael 
Schlatter, who seems to have been a most ac- 
tive, zealous and godly man. He came over 
in 1746, under the care of the Amsterdam 
Classis, and labored long and faithfully, not 
without much success, too, in reviving the 
churches among the Germans/ 1 ' 

In 1792, the connection that had hitherto 
held between the Church in this country and 
the mother Church in Europe, was violently 
sundered by the continental wars. The 
Church in America maintained but a sickly 
existence for some twenty or thirty years 
afterwards. The state of religion was, appa- 
rently, low. All was lifeless and desolate. 
Nothing but total extinction, or, at best, dead 
formalism seemed to threaten the Church in 
this country. Much of this was due, of 
course, to the influences on morals and religion 
growing out of the Revolutionary war. 

* His body is said to rest, unmarked by a single stone, in the Frank- 
lin Square at Philadelphia — which property once belonged to the 
Church of our fathers, but which, by some means, as much others also 
has been alienated from its rightful owners. A most interesting his- 
tory of the "Life and Labors " of Rev. Mr. Schlatter, has been pub- 
lished by Rev. Dr. Harbaugh, late Professor of our Theological Semi- 
nary, at Mercersburg. It deserves a much more general circula ion 
than it has thus far obtained. Its style is as fresh as that of a novel. 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. JJ 

Abundant causes may be found for this 
state of things. For a time, while immedi- 
ately under the influence of the Reformed 
Church of Europe, the condition of things 
here was like that in the fatherland. But 
after having been cut loose from all connection 
with the resources of outward church life, 
such as the supply of proper men, and the 
means of missionary support, great spiritual 
want was soon generally felt. Vacant or new 
congregations could not be supplied with reg- 
ular ministrations. Natural growth of popu- 
lation, and larger increase by immigration, soon 
showed a sad deficiency of laborers in the en- 
larging vineyard. Besides, the necessity of 
attending to the spiritual care of six or eight, 
and, in some cases, even a dozen congregations, 
situated at great distances apart, the minister 
had to give some of his time left, after his 
long rides on horseback, to tilling the ground 
for the sustenance of his family, whom he did 
not see, perhaps, for several weeks, and then, 
only for two or three days at a time. Some 
ministers joined other callings to the preach- 
ing of the gospel. This had its bad, as well 
as good effects. The quack doctor, teacher, 
miller, smith or farmer, had little time left 

7* 



78 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



for thorough study, or even theological reading, 
in preparation for the pulpit. 

The great want of laborers also made the 
way open to those who were not fit for the 
work. Besides, the pious school-master, in 
many cases, with all his lack of scientific 
qualifications, ordained to the regular ministry; 
there also came many irregulars into its 
ranks. Some had " learning without piety ; " 
so others had piety without learning; and 
still others possessed neither learning nor 
piety. Some had synodical authority, while 
others had none to show. If they ever had 
ordination, their papers were, in many cases, 
lost at sea, when they themselves, came over, 
or, if left in the fatherland, and if sent for as 
proof, they, generally, were put on board some 
ship that was sure to be sunk, and so they 
could not come to hand* 

Some good and true men were, from neces- 
sity, partially and imperfectly trained up in 
private. And others, in special cases, were 
trained at institutions where little of our Ke- 
formed Church life was known or cherished. 
Thus, with an inadequate ministry, as to 
numbers or education, or moral fitness, the 
life of the Church could not but grow weak. 
And, when added to this, are other 
causes, such as large pastoral charges, little 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 79 

stated preaching and religious instruction in 
each; together with a great lack of education 
among the people, besides a scarcity of schools, 
a want of church literature and institu- 
tions, imbued with the animus of the Re- 
formed Church; what wonder was there that 
the Church did not increase in strength, 
piety, intelligence and influence, as we could 
have wished ! 

After having passed through the deep 
waters of tribulation, about forty years ago, 
it seemed to be invigorated with new powers 
of life. In 1820, it numbered only fifty min- 
isters and about three hundred congregations, 
in which service was held at I0112; intervals of 
four, six, eight or more weeks apart. Prior to 
1825, it had no institutions of learning from 
which to draw its ministry — depending, for 
these, as has been seen, on private effort or 
foreign supply. 

The long talked of theological school, first 
proposed to be established at Frederick, Md., 
1817, was at last put into operation in 
1825, in connection with Dickinson College, 
at Carlisle, Pa., with the Rev. Dr. Mayer, 
Professor of Theology. Some time afterwards, 
in 1829, it was transferred to York, Pa., 
from whence it was removed, along with 
the High School, in 1835, to Mercersburg, 



8o 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Pa. Here it has given birth to the far 
famed " Mercersburg Theology," which, how- 
ever much it may be slandered and mis- 
represented because misapprehended, and 
persecuted because envied, has confessedly 
created a new era in American Theological 
Science. Though at first, despised as an 
insignificant movement, it now commands 
the respect of its most earnest opponents; 
while it is making friends among the most 
pious and learned scholars of the land. 

Our Reformed Church now has in this 
country, its flourishing theological semina- 
ries and colleges, and collegiate institutes; 
high schools and classical academies in dif- 
ferent parts of the middle, Western and 
Southern States. It has several well con- 
ducted literary and religious papers and pe- 
riodicals, English as well as German. The 
Mercersburg Quarterly Review has attracted 
especial notice by the vigor and ability of 
its contributions to theological science. 

Within the last twenty years, the Church 
has more than doubled its territory and 
membership, which might have been more than 
again doubled, had there been men and 
money enough at command to occupy all 
the inviting fields within the sphere of its 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 8l 



influence. It is now favorably known for 
respectability and piety in the States of 
Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Vir- 
ginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, In- 
diana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, 
Wisconsin and Kansas — with scattered mem- 
bers in Texas, Massachusetts, Tennessee and 
California. 

According to the last published records, 
it will be seen that there is one General 
Synod and three particular Synods, East- 
ern, Ohio and North Western. These com- 
prise thirty-three Classes, (equal to synods 
or, perhaps, rather presbyteries of other bod- 
ies). The number of ministers is now about 
five hundred; the number of congregations 
served by them is over eleven hundred; 
and the whole number of members may be 
put down at something over one hundred 
thousand. Bssides, there is a large body of 
baptized youth and other population, the 
whole amounting to, perhaps, a quarter of 
a million, under the immediate influence 
and religious training of our Reformed 
Church in this country. Nearly allied to it is 
the Reformed (Dutch) Church of New York 
and New Jersey, which uses the Heidelberg 
Catechism along with the decrees of the 



82 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Synod of Dart. This Church is influential 
and wealthy, and nearly the same in size as 
our own. For some ten years, the frater- 
nal relations of these two bodies, were not 
as harmonious as formerly — nor as could 
have been desired. But now again, the 
spirit of fellowship is renewed between them 
and us; from which the most promising re- 
sults may yet flow, for the mutual benefit of 
each, and the general good of our Redeemer's 
kingdom among men. In Europe, with, per- 
haps, minor shades of difference, there are 
some ten or twelve millions adhering to our 
common standard of faith. 

Besides the great lights to be found in the 
Reformed Church of the fatherland, as re- 
spects theology, science and literature, some 
of the greatest living minds of the present 
age are now to be found in the American 
branch of the same Church. Their theologi- 
cal and scientific literature given to the pub- 
lic within the last twenty years, has chal- 
lenged the respect and admiration of earnest 
men in different parts of the world. Their 
reputation is not confined to the partiality 
of their own denomination, but has become 
almost as widely extended as Protestant 
Christianity. Not confined to our own State 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



or country, it is more favorably estimated 
and held in higher honor among the great 
and learned men of Europe than here at 
home. The next generation will know that 
great men have lived among us. 

Why then is the Eeformed Church mea- 
surably unknown in this country? It has 
had an honored existence here, for above 
one hundred years. Many of our present 
citizens are descended from parentage to 
whom this Church was once dear. In it, their 
parents were baptized, and, perhaps, many of 
them confirmed. 

The interests of the Church having been so 
long, owing to various uncontrollable causes, 
neglected in many parts of our land, es- 
pecially in the large cities and new states of 
the West, this may account for much of the 
comparative ignorance of the character of our 
Church among the various families of other 
Christians in this country. Had the material 
properly belonging to the Eeformed Church, 
been but kept from loss and straying into 
other channels, it would not be a compara- 
tively unknown denomination, but could, 
doubtless, number many more thousands of 
pious and respectable citizens among its mem- 
bers, and worship — not in out of the way places, 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



or some old " hired house" — but in spacious 
churches of its own, dedicated to the Triune 
God. 

Our difficulties and trials as a denomina- 
tion, are nothing new or unheard of, in the 
history of our Church. In years gone by, as 
well as now, we have been called to suffer per- 
secution. If this be one of the marks of a 
true Church, then have we reason, like the 
Apostles of old, to thank God that we are 
counted worthy to bear such things for His 
name. If the Lord chasteneth the son whom 
He loveth, then have we this evidence as a 
Church, that "we are sons and not bastards." 
We will not, therefore, withdraw our trust in 
the Lord and the power of His might, but 
will await in faith and patience His plea- 
sure. Suffering leads to triumph and glory. 

Eemembering what things He did in the 
times of old, in the days of our fathers, it 
will still be the mission of the Reformed 
Church, to bring to men the Gospel of the 
blessed God, in its simplicity and truth — to 
proclaim redemption to fallen man through 
the blood of Christ Jesus. Men must hear 
of their great sinfulness and misery, and of 
the punishment due to sin; of deliverance 
from the curse through the mystery of the In- 



THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. 85 



carnation, the atonement of God's own Son, 
reconciling man with the Father; and of 
gratitude due to God, in a holy life for all 
this grace. 

While we stand, therefore, on the broad 
platform of our faith, as set forth in the Heid- 
elberg Catechism, all of which we believe, and 
endeavor to teach, we shrink from no investi- 
gation of its pure and peaceful doctrines. 
Since renowned doctors of divinity in other 
denominations freely confess their profound 
respect and high admiration for our symbol of 
faith, wishing, at the same time, that their 
own confession were more in spirit like the 
Heidelberg Catechism, we feel that no apology 
is needed in recommending it to the faith and 
practice of those descended from Reformed 
sires, and to the world around us. 

We would teach all men with assured faith, 
in answer to the question "What is thy only 
comfort in life and death ?" each one heartily 
to say, in the words of the Catechism, "That 
I, with body and soul, both in life and in 
death, am not my own, but belong to my 
faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who, with His 
precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my 
sins, and delivered me from all the power of 
the devil, and so preserves me, that, without 

8 



86 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair 
can fall from my head; yea, that all things 
must work together for my salvation : where- 
fore, hy his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of 
eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and 
ready henceforth to live unto Him." 

God grant us all gnrce, as our fathers did 
in their day, in the times of old, evermore to 
confess and feel this truth in all its power, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen! 




CHAPTER III. 



REFORMED SYMBOL OF FAITH. 

THE only confessional symbol of our Re- 
formed Church, is the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism. Its venerable authority has been 
the norm of doctrine for our people for the past 
three hundred years. It was prepared and 
published under the formal authority of the 
Elector, Frederick the Third, surn anted the 
Pious, A.D. 1563 ; and was, previously care- 
fully examined and adopted by the Synod of 
the Church of the Palatinate. It was also, soon 
acknowledged to embody the genius and life 
of the Reformed Church in other lands. It 
has an inward power, corresponding- so fully 
to the peculiar character of the Reformed 
faith, that it seemed, from the start, to mea- 
sure and express most readily, the inmost and 
deepest, as well as central confessional life, of 
this whole main side of the great Reforma- 
tion. It was, therefore, generally adopted 

87 



88 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



and honored by the principal and representa- 
tive Reformed Churches of the Continent. 

Let us, first of all, consider the historical 
occasion which called for its preparation, and 
publication, and use. 

It was not the result of any personal 
scheme or mere party plan ; and yet, it was 
in the religious, as well as political interest — 
we may say, almost primarily — of the Pala- 
tine Elector. Man's necessity is, however, 
many times in history, God's opportunity. 
Unwittingly, men may be doing more than 
they suppose, when they humbly work for 
the good of others, in the name of the Lord. 
So it was, doubtless, in the case here with 
the Pious Frederick. Though he even 
seems fully impressed also, with a sense of 
the divine commission for the work to which 
he addressed himself, in undertaking to pro- 
vide for the Church, this confessional book, 
which is his highest glory. 

But the intrinsic value and real greatness 
of the Catechism, is to be referred rather, 
to the crying needs of the times which it 
met, and for which it so largely made sub- 
stantial provision. Its measure of excel- 
lence is to be found in the divine over-rul- 
ing of its authors and its contents, both as 



OCCASION AND CALL FOR THE CATECHISM. 89 



to its outward forru, and also, as to its in- 
ward power, to satisfy the historical wants 
not only of that particular age and country, 
but of other ages and other lands, where 
the Reformed spirit is found. This divine- 
ly governed historical element reigning in 
the Catechism, is its source of truth and 
power of life, from first to last. 

OCCASION AND CALL FOR THE CATECHISM. 

In the year A. D. 1559, the government 
of the Palatinate came into the possession 
of Prince Frederick the Third, whose rank 
among the electors was next to that of the 
Emperor himself. He found in his domin- 
ions, a greatly troubled people, deeply har- 
assed by the conflicting interests into which 
the Reformation had been divided, in the 
days of his predecessors. Around the cele- 
brated University at Heidelberg, many schol- 
ars had gathered, and opposing parties 
aimed at controlling, through it and the 
court, the public opinion of the province. 
The most scandalous contentions and strifes 
are said to have abounded, to the hearty 
disgust of many moderate and peace-loving 
people. The earnest spirit of the pious 
Prince, was greatly outraged by these dis- 

8* 



9 o 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



orderly occasions of discord and violence; 
and he felt it to be his duty, as a ruler en- 
trusted with the well being of his people, 
to remove the general ground and cause of 
these troubles. 

He found it necessary, to this end, to 
first admonish, and then dismiss and ban- 
ish from the University, the leading spirits 
of discord and contention. And to heal 
the dis-harmony, he then proposed a more 
moderate formula, for the doctrine of the 
Lord's Supper; which should do honor to 
Melancthon's later views, as set forth in the 
altered form of the Augsburg Confession, 
and to which it was desired, the Palatinate 
should adhere. In this sense only, can the 
Palatinate be said to have hitherto been 
Lutheran. 

Frederick the Wise, and Otho Henry, of 
its former rulers, it is true, were Lutherans; 
but only in the broad sense of the modified 
views of the Author and Defender of the 
Augsburg Confession. And with the people, 
the more ultra Lutheran party, it is said, 
were never popular. If the new order ap- 
proved by Melancthon, and now introduced, 
had been allowed peaceably to prevail, there 
would, most probably, have been no such 



OCCASION AND CALL FOR THE CATECHISM. 9 1 



absolute call, as there was, in fact, for the 
formation of another confession, defining this 
in its last and best results, as combined in 
a free and living way, with the other and 
later fruits of the Reformation. 

Catechisms, such as those of Luther, Brentz, 
and others, were already in common use, 
teaching doctrines according to their seve- 
ral authors, which were supposed to be in 
the general Confession of Protestantism. 
Along with this fact, which accounts for the 
different shades of doctrines leading to dis- 
putes and contentions, it must also be borne in 
mind, that the discipline of the Church had 
run down, during these doctrinal wars, to the 
lowest and most lax degree. 

To unite, therefore, the whole religious life 
of his people in harmonious faith and worship, 
and to bring to an end the troubles and dis- 
sensions arising from the divisions in doctrine 
and cultus, Frederick proposed to form a new 
Catechism, which should be made by authority 
to supersede and entirely displace all con- 
flicting teachings, and, so, quell all strife. In 
doing this, however, the design was not 
merely to ignore negatively, all positive truth, 
touching the points of difference, as is done in 
some of our American unions existing among 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



different bodies. But the purpose rather was, 
to make an honest effort to harmonize effec- 
tually, all parties, by doing full justice to af- 
firmative truth itself. It was not then mere- 
ly to yoke the Swiss Reform to Lutheranism, 
by ignoring all points of difference, but to 
embody and express the deepest and best ele- 
ments of both, which history had already 
made one, in a ground deeper than that, on 
which their separation rests." 

Religious instruction of a proper kind, for 
the young especially, was first needed in the 
schools and churches, to take the place of 
the imperfect individual schemes of teachers, 
which had already led to such divisions, dis- 
orders, and lax morals. It was of the first 
importance to secure for the youth, a common 
bond of faith, which would, in the end, unite 
the whole religious life of the people in one 
confessional type. In the authoritative letter 
of the Prince, published in the first edition of 
the Catechism, which we will hereafter give 
in substance, is found the general idea under- 
lying the occasion and call for the new con- 
fessional symbol. 

• PRODUCING THE CATECHISM. 

After Melancthon's approbation, formally 
given, to the Prince's reformatory plans, he 



PRODUCING THE CATECHISM. 



gradually came to stand more and more de- 
cidedly in the Reformed interest. And when 
all other efforts had failed to bring about a 
harmonious settlement of the disturbed state 
of the Church in his dominions, he finally re- 
solved to embody in a new confession, the 
matured fruits of the Reformed doctrines, as 
best ministering to the unity of religious life 
among his people. He, therefore, after due 
thought and counsel, appointed his two most 
celebrated theologians at Heidelberg, to pro- 
duce a work which should do honor to the 
past, and, at the same time also, enshrine in a 
new Symbol, the advanced and more matured 
developments of the Reformation. 

Providence seems to have made special pro- 
vision for this important work, then to be 
done. The two men to whom the Prince had 
committed the task, seem to have been all 
that could be desired for such purpose, and 
certainly more than, at first view, could have 
been expected, naturally, from any two men 
of their age. It is a most singular fact, that 
two men, and especially, such young men, 
should be engaged for this end, each of whom 
was to contribute actively, his share towards 
the accomplishment of the work assigned 
to them. It is no less a matter worthy of 



94 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



remark, and even of wonder, that their joint 
production bears such unmistakable marks of 
their several excellencies in such full organic 
unity, both in its several parts and in its 
wholeness. 

Church life goes before Catechisms. So 
these two authors of the Catechism were, in 
no sense, the originators of the Reformed 
life, which is embodied in our Catechism. 
They cannot even be called fathers, in the 
same sense as were Zwingli, Luther, and the 
rest of the prime movers in the Reformation. 

They were themselves, rather sons, born in 
due time, of the Reformed Church. But 
young as they were, they were only the more 
fully imbued with her glowing life at every 
turn, drawn warm and fresh from their spirit- 
ual mother. Faithful in reproducing this, 
their work became a wonderful success. 

It was not then, the patriarchal authority 
of the authors of the Catechism, excellent, 
indeed, as they both were, which gave im- 
portance, in the direction of personal influ- 
ence, to their work. One of these was dis- 
tinguished for his thorough theological learn- 
ing, and the other, as court preacher, was re- 
markable for his practical talent and zealous 
love for evangelical truth. But it was not 



PRODUCING THE CATECHISM 



95 



this kind of personal character which at- 
tached itself to this Catechism. The over- 
shadowing name of Luther alone, was enough 
to call attention to his books ; and the same 
may be said also, of Calvin's works. But 
nothing of this sort, however, went to make 
character for the new Catechism. If, indeed, 
we except the princely endorsement and au- 
thority of Frederick, there was nothing but 
the intrinsic character of the book itself, to 
give it weight with the Synod of the Church 
and with the people. 

Considering himself divinely called, not 
only to be a temporal prince over his people, 
in a strict political sense, but also to be their 
spiritual guide, at least in matters of discipline 
and authority; Frederick, of course, felt the 
full degree of importance attaching to the 
matter in hand. Much, of necessity, would 
depend on the character of the new Catechism, 
so as to make successful the present attempt 
to brine; religious order out of the confused 
state of things in the Palatinate. It was not 
then, without mature deliberation and prayer- 
ful counsel from God, and also, with due defer- 
ence to the judgment of his advisers in 
things temporal as well as spiriual, that he 
finally made choice of the very two men, a s 



9 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the result proved, most fully adapted to the 
best execution of his plans. 

By divine guidance, doubtless, the choice of 
the Elector accordingly, fell, at length, on Dr. 
Zacharias Ursinus, his chief professor of 
Theology in the University of Heidelberg, a 
man of great depth of learning, and especial- 
ly, of thorough scientific attainments in his 
department, though not more than twenty- 
eight years of age, and Dr. Caspar Olevianus, 
the prince's court preacher, who was known as 
a vigorous and glowing advocate of gospel 
truth and covenant grace, and was still 
younger, by two years, than his colleague, 
being at that time but twenty-six years old. 
Both these young men had but. recently been 
settled at Heidelberg; Olevianus in 1560, and 
Ursinus as late as 1561. In the year 1562, 
the Catechism was prepared ; the original was 
in the German language, but it was also trans- 
lated immediately into Latin for the use of 
the schools and colleges. Before it was given 
to the public it had been submitted to the 
Prince, " who immediately, in 1562, assembled 
at Heidelberg, a Synod of the superintend- 
ents and ministers of the whole Palatinate, 
before whom he laid the precious document, 
requesting them to subject it to a careful ex- 



EXCELLENCE OF THE CATECHISM. 



97 



animation, that they might be able to express 
a correct judgment in regard to it. This they 
did in various sessions ; comparing it consci- 
entiously, with the Word of God. They were 
astonished, says Van Alpen, at the wisdom 
which reigned in it, and the correct manner in 
which it expressed the Reformed teachings ; ap- 
proved and praised it as with one mouth, and 
besought the authorities of the land to have 
it printed." It was accordingly issued on 
Tuesday, the 19th of January, A. D. 1563. 

EXCELLENCE OF THE CATECHISM. 

It has been called " the flower of the en- 
tire German Reformation. It has Lutheran 
inwardness, Melancthonian clearness, Zwin- 
glian simplicity, and Calvinistic fire, all fused 
together. In the beautiful combination of all 
these elements, it loses the peculiar and dis- 
tinctive spirit of each one. It has no proto- 
type in any of the Reformers. Zurich and 
Calvin can say : It is not of us. It has the 
suavity, but not the compromising spirit of 
Melancthon. The Prince himself, it is said, 
took care that it should not be without some 
sharp points. It has not the dashing terror 
and dogmatism of Luther. What is the 
strangest of all, it is farthest possible removed 

9 



9 3 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



from the scholasticism and rigid logic of Ursi- 
nus. Though it has the warm, practical, sacred 
poetical fervor of Olevianus, it has not his fire 
and flame. It is greater than Reformers. It is 
purer and sounder than theologians. It is 
rather the product of faith and piety r , than of 
knowledge and Theology." 

Excellence, such as it embodied, was soon 
recognized and appreciated. Its adoption by 
many other Reformed lands is in full testi- 
mony here. And the highest individual 
praises were heard in its favor. Bullinger, the 
great Swiss Reformer, co-laborer and biogra- 
pher of Zwingli, writing of it says : That he had 
read it with great interest, and heartily 
blessed God for perfecting His work. It is clear, 
with greatest purity and truth ; all is plain, 
pious and edifying. It has much in little. He 
finally thinks no better Catechism has yet been 
published, and gives glory to God for such 
success ! v 

Bishops in the Church of England, of Llan- 
daff, and of Salisbury, with other English 
divines, said of it (in 1620) : "That neither 
their own, nor the French Church, had a Cate- 
chism so suitable and excellent; that those 
who had compiled it were therein remarkably 
endowed and assisted by the Spirit of God ; 



EXCELLENCE OF THE CATECHISM. 99 



that, in several of their works, they had ex- 
celled other theologians ; but that in the com- 
position of this Catechism, they had outdone 
themselves. " 

The Authorship of the Catechism is given by 
Dr. Nevin in an unequalled passage in his 
Historical Introduction to the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism, P. 33-4-5-and 6, which our space will 
not allow us to insert ; but to which we refer 
the interested reader. * 

For a biographical sketch of the authors of 
the Catechism, the reader is referred to Profesor 
Porter's excellent article in the Tercentenary 
Monument, f pages 207-228; also to Dr. 
Nevin's Historical Introduction, pp. 28-32. 
See also Dr. Sudhoff's life of Ursinus and 
Olevianus ; and Dr. Harbaugh's Fathers of the 
Reformed Church, Vol. L pp. 232--261. % 

In regard to Frederick the Third, whose life 
also deserves to be studied, as the nursing 
father of the Reformed Church in the Pala- 
tinate, and especially as the active mover in 
providing the Catechism for the Church, we 

* Tercentenary Edition of the Heidelberg Catechism — to be had of 
Reformed Church Publication Board, 54 North dth Street, Philada. 

*j" A valuable book for Reformed Families, and the general reader. 
To be had at our Publication Office, as above. 

% Books that ought to be more generally read. To be had as 
above. 



100 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



refer to Dr. Sclienck's graphic article, in the 
Tercentenary Monument, pp. 177-203; Dr. Har- 
baugh's Fathers of the Reformed Church, Vol. 
I. pp. 209-239 ; and to Dr. Nevin's most admira- 
ble Historical Introduction, to the Heidelberg 
Catechism, which is a master-piece, a compend, 
and epitome, rich, full and brief — partaking 
largely of the spirit out of which the Catechism 
itself grew, in the blooming period of the Re- 
formation. 

BRINGING THE CATECHISM INTO USE. 

Having a Catechism of such rare worth pro- 
vided, it became a matter of the first impor- 
tance for its friends to secure for it a fair and 
general trial ; for in this would be found, after 
all, its fitness, or otherwise, for use in the 
cause it was intended to serve. We find there- 
fore, along with the first Edition, an official 
order from the hand of the Prince, authorizing 
its introduction and use in the churches and 
schools of the Palatinate. 

This order was issued and directed to 
all of the superintendents, pastors, preachers 
and teachers ; who are reminded that their 
Elector has committed to him, by the word of 
God, and his call to be their ruler, the boun- 
den duty of preserving peace, order, honesty 



BRINGING THE CATECHISM INTO USE. 10 1 



and virtue amongst his subjects; but especially 
also to bring them more fully and truly to the 
knowledge and fear of Almighty God, and to 
His saving Word as the only foundation of all 
virtue and obedience. He therefore urges them 
to spare no pains, as far as possible, to promote 
their own eternal as well as temporal welfare, 
by the use of all proper means. As his prede- 
cessors had aimed by well meant regulations 
for the honor of God, at social and civil order 
— which had not met the wants of the case 
nor been followed by the desired fruit — he felt 
it to be right for him, not only to renew their 
efforts, but to make also neiv provisions for ad- 
vancing these good purposes — especially, as 
throughout the electorate, the promising youth 
have been neglected in their christian training, 
both in the school and churches ; in some cases 
left without religious instruction, and others 
only imperfectly taught, in no uniform, clear 
and sure system, in various Catechisms di- 
rected according to the free fancy of each 
individual teacher. 

From this state of things manifold evils 
came ; and the youth grew up without the 
sure knowledge of God's word; and hence are 
subject to be misled by perverse doctrines. 
Steady maintenance of christian and civil of- 

9* 



102 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



fice, authority and government, and order, 
sobriety and honesty, as well as all other ex- 
cellent virtues, can only grow and abound, 
where above all things the young are first 
trained, in the pure doctrines of the holy gospel, 
and are kept in the right knowledge of God. As 
the first duty of his administration, he thought 
it necessary to call attention to this, in order to 
set aside all irregularities, and open the way 
for Eeform. 

Accordingly, with the consent and advice 
of his whole Theological Faculty of the Uni- 
versity, as well as the Superintendents and 
chief Pastors, he " caused to be prepared and 
published, both in the German and in the 
Latin tongue, a Summary of Instruction, or 
Catechism of our Christian Eeligion according 
to the Word of God in order that hence- 
forth, not only the young in the churches and 
schools, may be instructed and piously trained 
unto Salvation, in the Christian Eeligion, and 
uniformly kept therein ; but also Pastors and 
Schoolmasters themselves may have at hand, 
a sure and abiding rule and measure, by 
which they may regulate themselves in the in- 
struction of the youth, and not at their own 
pleasure bring in daily changes and conflicting 
doctrines. 



BRINGING THE CATECHISM INTO USE. IO3 

He therefore graciously and earnestly ex- 
horted and ordered hereby, each and all to re- 
ceive thankfully this Catechism, prepared and 
issued for the honor of God, and for the tem- 
poral well-being of his people, as also for the 
good of their souls. And that its teachings 
also, be faithfully and carefully given to the 
young in the churches and schools, and likewise 
to all the people from the pulpit — that all may 
teach, act, and live according to its doctrine, 
with the full hope and trust that if the young 
be thus taught earnestly and trained or brought 
up in the Word of God, the Almighty will 
grant to all a bettering of life, with temporal 
and eternal welfare. 

PASTORAL FIDELITY REQUIRED, 

Various means were used besides this offi- 
cial direction, to bring the Catechism home to 
the hearts of the people. It was to be used 
without exception in the parish schools and 
churches. Every minister and school-teacher, 
before entering upon the duties of his office, 
had the Catechism submitted to him for ap- 
probation or rejection ; in regard to which he 
must make answer to the consistory. The 
congregation under the care of the church 
council, was to be " instructed and taught, 



104 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



with true, sound, godly, prophetical and apos- 
tolic doctrine ; and not with human dreams 
and notions." The Catechism, in its own true 
sense and right meaning, was to be for them, 
the guide and rule ; and only when so used 
most diligently in teaching the old and the 
young, did the minister faithfully fulfil his 
duty to the people. 

Barring out all false and negative doctrines, 
there was also taught from this Treasury of 
living Christianity, the positive doctrines of 
true faith. The teachers and ministers must 
have this in its power, in their own minds 
and hearts, before it can become a part of the 
people. As the Catechism itself reflects so 
fully the life of the Church, in faith and prac- 
tice, it could not help but become popular; 
that is, it went directly home to their hearts, 
as something at once in proper harmony with 
them, so as to become readily a part of them- 
selves. It therefore soon found a hearty re- 
ception, and so, secured a warm home in their 
inmost religious life, to which it corresponded, 
and which it also quickened while it nourished 
their faith. 

Reading the Catechism in regular course 
before the people at public service, was ap- 
pointed; "in as much as the old folk have 



PASTORAL FIDELITY REQUIRED. IO5 

grown up in popery without the Catechism, 
and readily forget the articles of the Christian 
Religion, it is thought necessary that on all 
Sundays and Festivals, in villages and country 
towns, likewise in all cities, before the sermon, 
the minister shall read before the people 
clearly and understandingly a portion of the 
Catechism, so as to go over the whole in nine 
Sundays." How would this seem, if something 
like it were in force now ? 

On every suitable occasion, the ministers, it 
was further ordered, were to refer to the doc- 
trines and teachings of the Catechism, and use 
passages from it, to prove their teachings. 
They were also directed by the Elector to 
" season their sermons with it," so as to fami- 
liarize the people with its contents. In short, 
the Catechism was to regulate and govern all 
the preaching and teaching, which went to 
make up the religious life of the whole peo- 
ple. 

Every year, once, the whole Catechism was 
to be gone over by the preacher, who was to 
hold for this purpose, a special service on 
Sunday afternoon. Besides the Hymn, Lord's 
Prayer, general petitions and Ten Command- 
ments, there was to be an examination of the 
Catechetical class. The congregation was ex- 



106 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

pected to he present ; and when the questions for 
the day had been answered, the preacher ap- 
pointed others for the next lesson, explaining 
them " simply and briefly." So the Cate- 
chism has its fifty-two Sundays, for the yearly 
cycle. 

To prepare the children for the public ex- 
aminations which were also held at stated 
times before the classical meetings, the school- 
master had an important part to perform. He 
gave special attention to the lessons in the 
Catechism during the week; so that the young, 
and old too in the end, could publicly make 
answer, at least to its principal parts — on the 
ability to do which they came to hold certain 
privileges, as citizenship and the right to 
marry. 

, Besides its popular use thus general, at the 
hands of the pastors and common school- 
teachers, among the people and children, it 
had also a place in the higher teachings of the 
Gymnasia and University. It became the 
text book of Systematic Theology and general 
lectures ; and was thus interwoven at every 
point in the general and scientific learning of 
the land of its birth. All were expected " Ac- 
cording to this Rule, to Study the Scrip- 
tures." 



HOSTILITY TO THE CATECHISM. 



I0 7 



So, having been made the index, guide, 
rule, measure, and norm, for the faith of the 
people, its universal use begat a confessional 
life of unity, power, devotion and moderation, 
yet joined with firm martyr zeal. Memories of 
untold glories in the life, sufferings, and 
triumphs of many saints have gathered around 
this venerable symbol of our Keformed Church, 
as precious gems on earth, to enrich her Hea- 
venly Diadem. 

HOSTILITY TO THE CATECHISM. 

As there never was such general favor ex- 
tended by the learned, and official powers of 
the Church to any confessional book, as to the 
Heidelberg Catechism ; so, no other, received 
such warm praise, awakened such hearty en- 
thusiasm, met with general acceptance by the 
common j>eople, and begat in them such pious 
devotion. None had either a more widespread 
influence, at home or abroad. This was all 
the more remarkable, because of the mildness 
of its reigning spirit, its moderation of tone, 
and the almost entire absence of the extreme 
polemical spirit so common to that age. 

Peaceable and even meek, to a most won- 
derful degree, yet this very calmness itself, and 
positive firmness in the truth, could not how- 



108 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

ever prevent it from being offensive, to many 
harsh and extreme partizan opponents of its 
teachings. It thus became the innocent cause, 
of fierce and warlike contests. The hostility 
to the Catechism was of two kinds : political, 
and theological. And it was also from two 
opposite parties : Lutherans, and Romanists. 
Herod and Pilate were well nigh made friends 
here in the common cause of trying to secure 
the condemnation of our innocent and harm- 
less Catechism. 

On the Lutheran side, in open war against 
it, were arrayed among the theologians such 
men as Brentz, Andrea, Flacius, and fiercest 
and coarsest of all Tillemann Hesshuss ; and 
among the political opponents, were Prince 
Wolfgang, of Newberg, Margrave Charles, of 
Baden, and Duke Christopher, of Wirtemberg. 

On the Papal part of active hostilities, were 
the Bishops and Convent Chapters along the 
Rhine, some of the Roman Catholic princes; 
and especially the Nuncio of the Pope. They 
considered it a public pest, assailed it with 
ridicule and wit, whipped it with rods, and 
burned it at the stake. 

ITS DEFENCE. 

Defence had of course to be made. Fred- 
erick called on his theological faculty to aid 



ITS DEFENCE. 



IO9 



in sustaining the Catechism against its ene- 
mies. So we find Ursinus, Olevianus, Bocquin, 
Bullinger, and other Reformers defending the 
orthodxy of the Catechism, from charges in- 
volving, as we are told, " all sorts of dan- 
gerous error, a hellish, more than devilish 
leaven," fanaticism and hypocrisy. Apologies 
were written ; able defences were made ; pub- 
lic conferences were held, and whole days 
devoted to the discussion of points in dispute. 
But nothing final and satisfactory to its ene- 
mies was attained. 

More than all other trials and dangers, the 
Pious Frederick and his Catechism were called 
to stand a trial for liberty and life, before the 
Imperial Diet held at Augsburg in May, 
1566. This was a most threatening crisis for 
the whole Reformed interest. The Emperor 
and many of the princes, were intensely op- 
posed to the Reformed Elector ; and the 
intention was, to set aside and suppress the 
Catechism, and depose Frederick, or even 
punish him with the extremest sentence, the 
death penalty. In that case, of course, the 
direst results might have been expected to 
follow, and the sorest evils befall the Reformed 
Church. 

It was claimed that the Palatinate Elector 
10 



no 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



had excluded himself, and the whole Reformed 
Church of Germany, from the religious peace 
of A.D., 1555, and so, could not claim the pro- 
tection of the Empire ; but was already in fact, 
by his own course, cut off from all the rights 
and privileges, secured to those Protestant 
princes who held to the Augsburg Confession. 
And therefore, his opponents thought it needed 
only the formal decree of the Diet to execute 
sentence against him. 

Frederick's trial. 

Frederick had received friendly warning, not 
to go to the Diet ; as, even in the minds of his 
friends, there was great room to fear the 
worst. But to these, he answered that he 
trusted in the God of his fathers, who " still 
lives, and is mighty also to keep me, a poor 
and sinful man, and will certainly keep me by 
His Holy Spirit, even though matters should 
proceed as far as blood ; which, if it should 
please my Father in heaven to bring me to 
such honor, I could never sufficiently praise 
Him for it, either here in time, or yonder in 
eternity." This martyr faith and zeal sus- 
tained him. 

Self-devotion and child-like faith fitted the 
Pious Prince to confess Christ before men, and 



Frederick's answer. 



hi 



defend the truth. He accordingly, relying on 
the divine promises, boldly and with calm 
dignity, appeared before the Diet, where he 
was to make answer for himself and his Cate- 
chism. The Emperor, the Papal Nuncio, the 
Lutheran and Roman Catholic princes were 
apparently all united against him. And, with- 
out any sort of hearing or trial, one day, during 
the sittings of the Diet, his case as thus pre- 
judged by them, was to be disposed of. A 
charge was read, and an imperial decree or- 
dered to be issued — charging Frederick with 
having fallen away from the Augsburg Confes- 
sion, and having published an heretical Cate- 
chism ; and commanding him to dismiss all his 
Calvinistic preachers and teachers and to 
abolish and suppress Ms Catechism — or, be ex- 
cluded from the peace of the empire, at the 
risk of losing all his dignities, and even life 
itself. 

Frederick's answer. 

Withdrawing for a quarter of an hour, to 
collect his soul for the occasion, " the Elector 
returned to the Diet with his son Prince John 
Casimer, bearing the Bible and the confession 
with him to make his defence." 

He calmly yet fearlessly reminded the 
Emperor and the Diet, that a process should 



112 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



not be commenced by executing the sentence ; 
but that his defence to the charge should first 
be heard and weighed. In matters of con- 
science, his only master was the Lord of lords 
and King of kings. The gift of salvation is 
from Jesus Christ alone, and so, none could 
stand in the place of his God and Saviour. As 
to Calvinism, he truly did not know what men 
meant by that ; and as he had never read Cal- 
vin's books, he could not tell what they taught. 
But he had not fallen from the faith, to which 
he had subscribed, along with others, because 
it was that of the Holy Scriptures ; nor did he 
think any one could show his departure from 
that. 

"But that my Catechism,, word for ivord, is 
drawn, not from human hut from divine sources, 
the references that stand in the margin will shoiv. 
For this reason, certain theologians have in vain 
wearied themselves in attaching it, since it has 
been shown them, by the open Scriptures, how base- 
less is their opposition. What I have elsewhere 
publicly declared to your Imperial Majesty, 
in a full assembly of the Princes, namely, that, 
if any one, of whatever age, station, or class 
he may be, even the humblest, can teach me 
something better from the Holy Scriptures, I 
will thank him from the bottom of my heart, 
and readily be obedient to the divine truth : 



Frederick's triumph. 



that I repeat now, in the presence of this as- 
sembly of the whole empire. If there be any 
one here, among my lords and friends, who 
will undertake it, I am prepared to hear him, 
and here are the Holy Scriptures at hand. 
Should it please your Imjoerial Majesty to un- 
dertake this task, I would regard it as the 
greatest favor, and acknowledge it with suita- 
ble gratitude. With this, my explanation, I 
hope your Imperial Majesty will be satisfied, 
even as also your Imperial Majesty's father, 
the Emperor Ferdinand, of blessed memory, 
was not willing to do violence to my con- 
science, however pleasant it would have been 
to him, had I consented to attend the Popish 
mass at the imperial coronation, at Frankfurt. 
Should, contrary to my expectations^ my de- 
fence, and the Christian and reasonable con- 
ditions which I have proposed, not be regarded 
of any account, I shall comfort myself in this, 
that my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has 
promised to me, and to all who believe, that 
whatsoever we lose on earth for His name's 
sake, we shall receive an hundred-fold in the 
life to come." 

Frederick's triumph. 
These words of the Elector made a very 
favorable impression. All gazed with wonder 

10* 



ii 4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



at the great-hearted Prince. Only one of the 
bishops murmured something to himself about 
the mass, which was so sharply rejected in the 
80th question of the Catechism. Prince Au- 
gustus of Saxony said, that there had been too 
much hasty action in this matter; and, ap- 
proaching Frederick, he tapped him softly 
upon the shoulder, and said: "Fritz, thou 

ART MORE PIOUS THAN ALL OF US TOGETHER !" 

The Margrave of Baden, at the close of the as- 
sembly, expressed himself in the same manner, 
saying : "Why do you attack this Prince ? he 
is more pious than us all." 

Frederick was now left unmolested. Five days 
later the Princes handed into the Emperor this 
declaration : "That the Elector has, it is true, 
a different view of the Holy Supper from the 
Augsburg Confession, but in regard to justifi- 
cation, and in most other points, he agrees 
with it ; and further, that they are not willing 
to exclude Frederick or any one else, in or 
outside of Germany, from the religious peace." 
The Elector, after the Emperor had graciously 
taken leave of him, returned in peace and 
safety to his beloved Heidelberg, on the Friday 
before Whitsuntide. " On the evening before 
the sacred festival, being present at the prepara- 
tion for the communion, in the Church of the 



ITS RECEPTION ABROAD. 



Holy Ghost, he grasped Olevianus by the hand 
in the presence of the whole congregation, and 
exhorted him to continue steadfast in the faith. 
It was an affecting and impressive spectacle ! 
The next day, he partook of the Sacrament, 
in company with his son Casimer and the 
whole court." 

Thus by wisdom and firmness did the ex- 
cellent Prince avert the threatening disaster. 
By a spirit as mild and pacific, and yet as 
positive, as that of the Catechism itself, "he 
stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the vio- 
lence of fire, and turned to flight the armies of 
the aliens," and saved from proscription that 
precious symbol of faith, from which millions 
have since learned what is their only comfort 
in life and in death. It was then, as it has been 
since, and is now, only loved more for the dan- 
gers it had passed." See Mer. Rev. Vol. 
XL pp. 61-62. 

ITS RECEPTION ABROAD. 

Baptized in such fiery trials, the Cate- 
chism, it might be expected, would bear the 
life and fruits of grace. With wonderful una- 
nimity it was raised to honor and authority 
in the Reformed churches abroad. In Ger- 
many itself, it was not confined to the church 



it6 creed and customs. 



of the Palatinate. In the free cities whore the 
Reformed faith prevailed it was introduced, 
as well as in the Reformed states of Germany, 
Brandenberg, especially Anhalt, and in what 
is modernly included in the kingdom of Prus- 
sia. 

Swiss Reformed churches, as Bern, St. Gall, 
SchafFhausen, received it in full honor. It was 
reported by their delegates at Dort, to be the 
acknowledged authority, as a symbolical book, 
for all the churches of Helvetia. The French 
Reformed Churches never formally adopted it; 
but it was held in high esteem by them. And 
the church of Hungary adopted it in full, and 
required its schoolmasters as well as preachers 
to swear hearty fealty to its doctrines. Its use 
was also extensive in the Reformed part of 
Poland. It was not without favor and regard 
in the Reformed churches of England and 
Scotland. 

But in the Dutch Reformed Church of Hol- 
land it especially came into honor and authori- 
ty. Here it displaced the Emden Catechism 
of John De Laskay, and rivalled that of 
Calvin. And nowhere has it been held more 
uniformly and faithfully in honor, than in the 
Dutch Reformed churches, both of Holland and 
America. 



ITS RECEPTION ABROAD. 



II 7 



The Synod of Dort, equal well-nigh to an 
ecumenical Reformed Council, made up of 
delegates from the Swiss, German, French, 
English, and Belgic Reformed Churches, after 
the most thorough consideration declared : 

"That, in the united judgment of all the 
theologians present, both foreign and Belgic, 
the doctrine contained in the Palatine Cate- 
chism, was in harmony with the Word of 
God at all points ; that there w r as nothing in 
it in this view that seemed to require change 
or correction : and that it formed altogether 
a most accurate compend of orthodox Chris- 
tian faith ; being with singular skill, not 
only adapted to the understanding of the 
young, but suited also for the advantageous 
instruction of older persons." 

When we consider also, the fact that it has 
been honored with translations into so many 
modern and ancient classic languages, we 
haxe another evidence of its great popular 
worth. Besides its original German, it w r as 
also turned into Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Mod- 
ern Greek, Dutch, French, English, Spanish, 
Italian, Bohemian, Polish, Hungarian, Arabic, 
Bengalese, Malay, "and other strange dialects 
besides." These all could hear it " speak in 



n8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



their own tongue s, the wonderful works of 
God." 

A prophet is not without honor, save in his 
own country and in his own house. So, the 
Heidelberg Catechism received even more 
honor abroad than it was able to maintain, ex- 
cept for a few glorious years, at home. Like 
the unsettled dwelling-place of the holy 
Apostles, who were not allowed by reason of 
cruel persecutions to remain at Jerusalem, but 
were dispersed abroad with the grace, mercy, 
and peace of the gospel; so, the home of the 
Catechism was not so much in its own land, as 
in the uttermost parts of the earth. 

By political changes, wars, and rationalism 
it had a troubled life in the land of its birth ; 
sometimes abolished, then restored, and again 
pushed aside until it now lives there only in 
a sort of reproduced form. In other places 
also where it once ruled the Eeformed life it 
is scarcely known now to have any power. 

For much of this it has made up in the Ee- 
formed Church of America. Both the Dutch 
and German branches have been most faithful 
to their spiritual inheritance. Dutch colonies 
carried it to the islands of the seas, to the 
cape of Good Hope in Africa, and to J apan, 
and India. Emigrants and missionaries, 



ITS RECEPTION ABROAD. 



II 9 



have brought it to this western world, where 
perhaps more than any where else, it is held 
in honor and authority — and where it may 
yet have its greatest work to do. Here it is, 
more than any where else, made to hold a re- 
lation to all parts of life, in something like the 
old sense attached to it, in its blooming period 
of the past. " There was no instruction im- 
parted wherein it was not explained, no church 
in which sermons on it were not preached, no 
school in which it was not used for teaching, 
no family in which it was not learned by heart," 
so really was it an element in the religious 
life of the people. 

Lands, once the home of Christianity, have 
been given over again, in the course of history, 
to heathenish barbarism; and now they are 
to be rechristianized by influence, means and 
labors from these western wilds. In the 
same way also, may the life and power of the 
Catechism, be restored again to those lands 
where once it wrought righteousness. Who 
knows, whether for some such good purpose, 
God may have allowed our Reformed Church, 
in her Jubilee revival, to have come into posi- 
tion for such a time as this ! 

Catholic Unity may also find here, in this 
most ecumenical symbol of the Reformed 



120 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Church, the key to the great problem of uni- 
ting the disjoined parts of true Protestantism 
in the " One Lord, one faith, one baptism." 
This can only be hopefully undertaken on the 
ground of the Apostles' Creed, which is the 
ruling power of the Catechism, and of primal 
authority for the Reformed Faith. 



CHAPTER IV. 



TYPE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. 

HE Word and Sacraments are the full 



X measure of the Church's life, at any given 
period of her history. The norm, according 
to which the Gospel is taught and explained, 
and the order, in "which the Sacraments are 
held and administered ; in other words, the 
degree of the true churchly, or of the experi- 
mental character of the ecclesiastical system 
obtaining anywhere, will condition, at every 
turn, the religious life in any part of the body 
of Christ. The apprehending power of grace 
in the covenant of God' s love, taking up into 
itself our whole human life, acts back again 
upon the world, through these same human 
organs. So that, just icliat the form of this 
faith and practice may be, as manifest in the 
human factor, depends, of course, upon the 
power of the human to comprehend that by 
which it is already first in Christ appre- 
hended. 

11 121 




122 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Hence, we find in Christianity particular 
types of religious life ; each in its measure or 
degree, presenting the divine-human contents 
of faith, as it holds the truth, and in turn, 
teaches it to men. Our Catechism then, of 
course, as a confessional norm of doctrine, 
and measure of practical religious life, will 
beget for our people a type of practical piety 
and personal religion, differing in so far, from 
any other begotten from a ruling power not at 
one with this moulding influence. 

True to its own living history, it must of 
necessity differ from others. We are not just 
like the gentiles," nor either of the "other 
tribes." If our church-life is like them, or 
is to become in full like them, it gives up, not 
only its right to live, but its own peculiar 
life itself, as a distinct Church-organization. 

Just in proportion, therefore, as our Re- 
formed Church has conscious power to feel 
and know its own proper life, will the glo- 
rious inheritance of our Reformed fathers' 
legacy, be honored and cherished by their 
children, from age to age. To the same de- 
gree in which it is respected and cared for, 
will our Church arise and shine. If we so 
honor our fathers, we may expect our days to 



TYPE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. 



123 



be long in the land which the Lord our God 
has given us. 

Many causes have conspired to alienate 
some of our people from the proper life of our 
spiritual mother. Influences, mighty and 
subtile, have been at work, by a kind of ga- 
rotting process, to choke out our Reformed vi- 
tality, and to persecute us unto extermination. 
Efforts have been most persistently made, to 
absorb our strength into other bodies ; and 
we are considered generally to be fit objects 
of spoil and plunder, by those seeking prey. 

When all this, for years and even ages, has 
failed to consume the burning bush, or blot 
us out as an organized part of the Lord's sa- 
cramental host; there have been combined 
and consenting claims set up, by others to 
whom we owe no servile obedience, but only 
fraternal service, to subject us as a Church, 
to their inquisitorial censorship over our 
Creed and Customs ; spying out our liberties, 
in order to destroy them ; endeavoring to 
make our orthodoxy square with their stand- 
ard of truth, which itself perhaps, is held by 
them in more or less unrighteousness ; and, 
when we withal, resisted their claims and 
maintained our integrity, they have followed 
us with the most bitter and unrelenting perse- 



124 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



cutions. This too, we have meekly borne, in 
our testimony for the "truth as it is in Jesus," 
which we steadily hold in "the form of sound 
words," even that "truth once delivered to the 
saints." And while we have suffered we 
have also thereby grown strong. 

Our Reformed Church is accordingly to-day, 
especially in this country, more self-conscious 
and vigorous, than she was a quarter of a 
century ago. The issue joined between her 
and others then was : whether she would, 
either become "like them," and so give up her 
right to a separate existence as a distinct or- 
ganization, or, refusing this, be persecuted to 
her denominational death. This was fairly un- 
derstood, and with true Christian courage and 
holy fortitude, it was bravely met. Thanks 
be to our Divine Lord ? neither alternative 
was, however, her unhappy lot ! She became 
by the trial more like herself again ; and so 
has had, as it were, a new power given to her 
humble life. 

The type of our religious life, is moulded 
precisely by the animating spirit accordingly, 
that lives and rules in the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism. No other confessional book is at all 
points of the same order as this venerable Re- 
formed Church Symbol. It starts in a pecu- 



NOT LIKE OTHERS. 125 

liar conception or plan, and its whole scope 
and compass throughout, is in full harmony 
with the same. Making account of the Di- 
vine Covenant of Grace, it gathers up into 
itself the living powers of Christian life, with- 
out reference to formal statements of didactic 
theology. And yet it is at the same time 
most thoroughly scientific ; for, while logic is 
not life, life is freely logical. Bullinger, says 
of it : " The Book is clear, and the matter 
is set forth with the greatest purity and truth; 
all is plain, pious, edifying ; comprising large 
and copious things in compact brevity. I 
think no better Catechism has yet been pub- 
lished. Glory to God, from whom is all suc- 
cess!" 

NOT LIKE OTHERS. 

If now in few words, it be asked to say, in 
opposition to others, or, in contrast with them, 
in what precisely, as to this does the reli- 
gious life of the Reformed Church, the flower 
and fruit of the Heidelberg Catechism, differ 
from that of other Christians, and how this 
difference holds, it may be somewhat difficult 
to make a succinct answer. 

We have in it, of course, many things, with 
11* 



126 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



others in common. It is true, all Evangelical 
Christians must hold substantially the Creed 
and life of Christendom, as we reach that 
through the common channels of Church-his- 
tory. We rejoice, therefore, in the fact of our 
common bond of fellowship and faith, in the 
communion of saints. But there are specific 
differences, well known and marked very 
plainly nevertheless ; in which the denomina- 
tional life of each rests. These differences 
may not be so easily defined, though never so 
real ; and yet they arfe susceptible of illustra- 
tion by analogy. 

For instance: all families have their gene- 
ral life in the bosom of society, of which they 
each in turn make up a part ; but there are 
specific household differences, which distinct- 
ly mark families in the common life of the 
human race. Our race indeed itself has but 
one genus {Homo) ; and yet, has its variable 
species, differing in features, color, habits and 
powers. So, the One Holy Catholic Church, 
has its denominations of Christians. And so, 
as to many things, all families in a nation or 
neighborhood seem alike at first blush. They 
each eat, sleep, dress and reproduce them- 
selves ; but with intermarried likenesses and 



A DIFFERENCE. 



127 



differences. It may not be easy to say pre- 
cisely what these are. 

A DIFFERENCE. 

Only a fence between two neighboring 
households may mark, as it is in fact found to 
do, a world of differences in their several 
habits, thoughts and reigning life, though to a 
casual observer they may both seem to be in 
general the same. The members of the one 
family could not interchangeably find them- 
selves at home in the other. It would be to 
them another element, like a fish out of wa- 
ter, for any one to be so transferred from the 
one to the other. 

What makes the difference then ? The 
life of the family, we answer in general. But 
what is that ? One has a pious, Christian at- 
mosphere pervading the home circle ; in 
which, by a true Christian nurture, the mem- 
bers of the house live and move ; and in it, 
and under the influence of it, the children 
grow up. They are obedient, orderly, intelli- 
gent, respectable, honest and trustworthy ; and 
take their places, at the proper time, in the 
Church of their fathers. 

The other family have the same external 
worldly advantages ; for the fathers of both 



128 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



have, for many years, been equal partners in 
business, and have the same temporal pros- 
perity, to share in their homes. The number 
of their children happens also to be about the 
same, and respectively, of nearly the same 
ages. Yet in this family, you miss all those 
genial influences of nurturing grace, found in 
the other. And, though the parents are mem- 
bers of the same Church-communion, as those 
of the other family, yet here, the children 
have grown up rude, turbulent, disobedient, 
dishonest, and pests to the neighborhood. 

Here are wanting too, a thousand nameless 
things, which are found in the life, in the next 
yard, on the other side of the fence ; and 
here are found on this side again, many things 
which you do not see over there, all of which 
things, both those present and those wanting, 
go to make up what constitutes the life of one 
family and reveal its distinguishing difference, 
respectively, from the other. It is not then 
so much in any one thing which may readily 
be mentioned, as in the whole animus, or spir- 
it and life, of the one as characterized from 
that of the other; not in any particular which 
may be taken from the one at pleasure, and 
added to the other, and vice versa. 

So it is in the religious life of churches. 



A DIFFERENCE. 



129 



One is not just the same as another. And 
what may be good enough for the members of 
the one, might feel very unsuited and strange 
to the religious habit and consciousness of 
those transferred from another. The differ- 
ence is more felt and known to experience, 
than defined and susceptible of formal expla- 
nation. Pleasure must be felt, to be enjoyed ; 
and pain can only be known, by him who suf- 
fers it. Hence, it is not strange, that many 
members of the Church love their own, with- 
out being well able to tell exactly why. It is 
not, therefore, always reasonable to expect 
every one to give a formal explanation and 
analysis, of his particular family type, as com- 
pared with that of others, which are not so de- 
sirable to him. 

Knowledge is not the full measure of faith : 
but faith begets true knowledge. Holding the 
Christian faith, in a heart of piety and devo- 
tion, the life will become Christ-like. More 
than anywhere else we find the sum of this in 
the Apostles' Creed. The contents of Chris- 
tian faith and knowledge, are here, and flow 
from the Personal Truth, Jesus Christ, the 
Author and Finisher of faith. Here is the 
norm of our religious life. 

Grasping the problem of the soul's salva- 



130 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tion, at the very outset, and, holding it con- 
sistently to the end, as the most practical 
of all religious truth, our Catechism refers us 
at once to the main doctrines in the divine 
order of human redemption, holding in the Per- 
son of Jesus Christ and His Holy Sacraments. 
Others may begin if they see fit with logical 
definitions, or with the work of Christ, or His 
doctrines ; with the decalogue, or the divine 
decrees ; but for our Catechism, the teaching 
of that knowledge which leads to the divine- 
human Person of the God-man, is for our 
faith, the only saving revelation of the Truth. 

THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 

Christ is the Revealer as well as the Foun- 
tain-Source of grace and truth, of which Saint 
J ohn declares Him to be full — not of the law, 
which was given by Moses, and which Jesus 
came indeed to fulfil. Thus the Gospel may in 
fact go before the law, as the promise was to 
Abraham before the law was given to Moses, 
in order that the outflow of the love of God 
to man, may beget love in man ; so that the ! 
law be finally fulfilled in supreme love to God 
and our neighbor. Eternal life, is to know 
the only true God and His Son Jesus Christ, 
whom He has sent as our Redeemer. 



TRUE RELIGION. 



Hence, our Lord Jesus, uniting the Divine 
and the human in the mystery of His incar- 
nation ; and so, uniting also, His members in 
His body, the Church, by the holy Sacra- 
ments, of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, is 
the reigning principle of our system of faith. 
Through His testimony to the truth, for which 
He indeed came into the world, as He tells 
Pilate, we are to learn of our utter loss and 
helpless ruin by the fall ; and in Him we find 
redemption and deliverance sacramentally 
signed and sealed to us ; and to Him we tes- 
tify our undying love, in a saintly life of gra- 
titude, in which we find our happiest Chris- 
tian experience and holy joy. 

TRUE RELIGION. 

Keligion of this order is deeply vital, heart- 
ily genuine, and firmly abiding. It is not 
fanatical and vague, a mere vaporing excite- 
ment of the feelings, of the common and pop- 
ular sort. Nor is it cold, formal, and yet form- 
less theory, in a dry orthodox system of men- 
tal confession for the understanding ; only, as 
a philosophy. Neither is it "will-worship," in 
a sentimental doing of good works springing 
from mere natural sympathy with suffering 
and want, without the divine principle of 



132 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



right faith and charity. These among the 
sects, are the common phases of religious life. 
While each may have some element of good 
in it, yet separately and one-sidedly they are 
not true religion. 

NOT FEELING ONLY. 

Feeling happy is not true religion, unless 
that happy feeling comes from true faith and 
obedience. Feeling is the most deceptive part 
of our lapsed nature. The heart is deceitful 
above all tilings. Happy feeling may be a very 
uncertain thing; and even right feeling is 
only the result of religious happiness, not reli- 
gion itself. The blindest fanaticism may be 
the best satisfied with itself, when it is farth- 
est possible from the right. Notional religion, 
therefore, is unreliable and worthless. Va- 
poring ebullitions soon disappear and leave no 
real good and soul-satisfying results behind. 
Vague and indefined emotions subside into 
vacuity, before the soul has received any solid 
benefits. 

There are very popular systems of religion 
based mainly on feeling, alone ; such as ob- 
tain in the Methodistic sects, whose statistics 
show how transient are these powers of reli- 
gious feelings. How many times, the same 



NOT MERE ORTHODOXY. 



r 33 



persons figure in their revival returns, is not 
always reported ; nor is it generally told how 
much of such effort is consumed on every 
new occasion, in working over, to " the ele- 
venth time" perhaps as we have heard, the 
same material, until, as it often happens, their 
feelings cannot be again reinflated, nor even 
aroused by any degree of excitement, and 
they are then given over as hopelessly " case- 
hardened." It is vainly delusive, and if in 
so far real, has no abiding power as a principle 
of vital religion. What remains of it, after 
such occasional excitements, is almost always 
only what it chanced to gather up from the 
religious life of those otherwise spiritually 
begotten and trained. Our members, prosely- 
ted to them, hold out better than the unnur- 
tured raw material of the world. Feeling, 
be it ever so happy, in its blind and uncer- 
tain, its transient and irregular character 
alone, is not true religion. Our fathers gave 
us another type altogether. 

NOT MERE ORTHODOXY. 

Nor is our religion only dry orthodoxy. 

This alone will not do. It may be formless 

and yet formal. 

Our life is neither a ghost, nor yet a corpse ; 
12 



I 



134 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



but body and spirit uniting in one soul. So a 
mere theoretical approach to the understand- 
ing, is not faith. Addressing the mind from 
without, in a philosophical confession, is mere 
intellectualism, and leads to rationalistic error. 
Mere " knowledge alas, 'tis all in vain," in so 
far as this is put for religion. The devils know 
and believe formal doctrine. But this order of 
faith is without life ; and true religion must 
have life — the life of Christ. Intellectual con- 
ceptions of truth, in the order of mental 
thought, may be as far from the life of true 
religion, as the cold marble statue is from the 
living person it was made to represent. It 
lacks the soul and vital powers. Having a 
form to live it is nevertheless dead, if it have 
not a real part in the Person — not the mere 
doctrine, nor the work, either, — of Christ, who 
is in Himself the power of God unto Salva- 
tion. Christ is not intellect or understanding 
only ; as little as He is feeling or heart simply 
for humanity ; neither does His holy religion 
rest in either of these, or both together. 

The rigid orthodoxy of outside parties, 
therefore, that has vauntingly set itself up in 
judgment as the standard measure of our Re- 
formed Church's Christian character, and, in 
comparison with itself, decried us, may not 



NOT IN HUMAN GOODNESS. 



*35 



always itself be entitled to the best credit for 
"pure religion and undefiled, before God and 
the Father." We are not to be condemned 
and destroyed, however, in such way. 

NOT IN HUMAN GOODNESS. 

Neither is sentimental goodness, as com- 
monly and popularly held in the moral re- 
form measures of the day, one and the same 
with true religion, as we hold it. In the be- 
nevolent movements of many, natural sym- 
pathy declares that it makes no matter what a 
man professes, or believes, or pretends to 
feel ; if only he does rigid — that is the " one 
thing needful." The doing right, is however, 
to be after their own natural instincts, rather 
than regulated by the voice of the church, 
which utters the mind of God's Spirit. 

This kind of piety is thought to be as good 
out of the church as in it ; indeed it often is 
supposed to be better, in so far as it is not 
hypocritical and sanctimonious. It claims to 
pour in the " oil and wine," when the priestly 
pretenders and Levitical delinquents are pass, 
ing by on either side. These good works in the 
order of mere nature are to cover the multi- 
tude of sins. Will-worship is its highest de- 
votion. The dreamy realms of dead nature 



136 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



find relief from its helplessness and woe, and 
are to be re-animated by humane acts of benev- 
olence. And natural goodness, awakened only 
to a life of sentiment, is to make up for the 
atmosphere and fruits of the lost Eden. 
Creeds and Catechisms are of small account 
here ; and doctrines and sacraments have but 
little meaning and force for this bald system 
of moral (?) religion. 

But the giving of one's goods to feed the 
poor, or even of one's body to be burned, is of 
no profit, St. Paul says, if it want the life- 
power of Christian love. Whatsoever is not of 
faith is sin. Out of Christ, the world finds 
God, a consuming fire. The sowing of the 
wicked is sin. It comes to this then : that 
there can be no good works, or right living, 
till the life be in Christ by a true faith, ac- 
cording to God's Word and Spirit. Without 
faith in Christ, it is impossible to please God. 

FAITH. 

Faith then, is indeed according to our Cate- 
chism, true knowledge — but not that only — it 
is more than knowledge. Faith, in a truly 
orthodox sense, not only knows correctly the 
revealed will of God ; but has also a hearty 
trust in Him, through our Lord Jesus ; and so 



FAITH. 



'37 



knowing rightly, and heartily trusting in 
the grace of Salvation offered and sacramen- 
tally sealed in the Gospel, it loves, supremely, 
God and our neighbor. Thus loving, it obeys 
God in J esus Christ, in whom we are " com- 
plete," and therefore, " accepted in the Be- 
loved." 

Filial obedience of the human soul to the 
divine will, rests in the loving heart, trusting 
to be led by the light of divine truth, brought 
to the world graciously in the Person and life 
of our blessed Saviour. This is the religious 
mind and spirit of our confessional symbol. 

The Heidelberg Catechism has an atmos- 
phere of its own peculiar religious life, in 
which our Reformed Church breathes freely 
as in its proper element. So a bird is at home 
in the air and a fish in the water ; each in its 
own proper element. As a confession, the Cate- 
chism rules the faith and practice of our 
church members at every turn; and, as a sum- 
mary of Christian Instruction, it moulds the re- 
ligious life of the young, who from generation to 
generation, grow up under its nurturing power, 
which draws them heavenward. In this double 
character, which it plainly combines in full 
harmony with itself throughout, we find at 
least one peculiarity, if not indeed a chief ex- 

12* 

If 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



cellence, by which it differs from all other 

Catechisms and confessions. 

EDUCATIONAL RELIGION. 

The principle of Educational Keligion, is 
one main feature characterizing the plan, and 
is required by the spirit of our Catechism. 
This is not something accidental, but only 
what belongs to its whole inward structure 
and life. It leads directly to historical Chris- 
tianity, as that is bound up in the Creed ; 
which itself also grows from "the ground and 
pillar of the truth/ 5 even the " truth as it is in 
Jesus." The gospel of salvation, with its holy 
sacraments, the signs and seals of God to us, 
we find here in the Church, where the Cate- 
chism comes to the Catechumen, and calls at- 
tention first of all to the "Only comfort in life 
and in death," and so, to the whole scheme of 
redemption. The heirs of salvation, elected 
into God's sovereign grace, by the providential 
fact of their birth, in a Christian land and 
family, and this good decree of the present 
gospel-call also, but still more, by their gra- 
cious baptismal inheritance, they are called 
and solemnly challenged, by this covenant 
relation, to their faithful Saviour Jesus 
Christ, to claim, in fall knowledge, in hearty 



EDUCATIONAL RELIGION. 



*39 



love, and in grateful obedience, all the rich 
benefits of their priceless birthright. "If ye 
know these things, happy are ye, if ye do 
them." 

Self-conscious childhood is thus approached 
in its earliest dawnings and most susceptible 
years, and is thus taught by our mother, the 
Church, to answer from a stand-point within 
her enfolding arms of grace, "I am not my 
own, but belong to my faithful Saviour J esus 
Christ," and this is "ray only comfort," since 
He has " bought me with His own precious 
blood, and has delivered me from all the pow- 
er of the devil." No longer now a child of the 
devil, but a redeemed soul; and therefore, 
under the most solemn obligations of duty and 
gratitude, now and henceforth always, not to 
come into the covenant, but to keep in it, aim- 
ing heartily to love and serve God. God says 
to us, before He commands in gospel truth, "I 
am the Lord thy God;" therefore "Thou shalt 
have no other gods before Me." 

Because of our relation to Him in Christ 
by Baptism, which conditions His relation to 
us ; and because of what He has done for us 
and is doing to us sacramentally, we are in 
grace, and not in nature. In this way Christ 
commanded the Apostles to preach the gospel 



140 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

to every creature ; and that gospel was to 
make known, by the Church, how God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not 
reconciling Himself unto the world; for He 
never offended against it. The grace of God, 
we read, bringeth salvation. And to this order 
of grace His ministers are to disciple the world, 
giving thereto the sealing grace of the Sacra- 
ments. 

MAKING DISCIPLES. 

Coming, by the general gospel commission 
to a knowledge of the truth, thus generally 
taught and proclaimed, the Church puts in a 
claim and right divinely given, to disciple, and 
nurture, those unto whom she brings the 
preached truth. 

This gives us the relation of these subjects 
to the Church. We find first, that the 
Church is before believers. They are made 
disciples by her divine ordinances in the teach- 
ings of the Gospel and administrations of the 
Sacraments. No one can become a Christian, 
that is, be converted, regenerated, and for- 
given, before the Church has anything to do 
in the case. Only when Baptism brings them 
into the right relationship of disciples, can they 
be rightly regarded as having passed, by mira- 



MAKING DISCIPLES. 



culous grace, from the natural state of sinful 
bondage over the Red sea to the Canaan-ward 
side ; where they first fairly are delivered and 
enter upon the trying pilgrimage towards the 
promised land. The journey, which yet passes 
through the desert and wilderness of sin, may 
bring rest in full possession of the goodly land, 
by a longer or shorter route of trial for faith 
and patience ; but it must of necessity lead 
past Sinai, and the formal giving of the Law 
comes, after deliverance from the formal bon- 
dage of natural Egypt, even though its gen- 
eral claim was before known. Many too, may 
be overthrown for their murmurings, or be 
destroyed for their want of faith — and so fail 
to reach the full measure of grace in final 
salvation. 

Every right view of the Church regards her in 
her living ministry, as the only teacher of men, 
divinely appointed and fully authorized to of- 
fer terms of pardon and seal forgiveness and 
eternal life to believers. No other party has 
such right or power. In her Word and Sacra- 
ments only, and not independently of her, men 
obtain an interest in the grace of God ; which, 
however, they may also profanely make, 
through a carnal heart of unbelief, of "none 
effect." They may forfeit their birthright 



142 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



j 



blessings born to them in her; but it is just 
that which the Church proposes to guard 
against, by presenting it to the Catechumens 
as something really theirs for a proper in- 
heritance. It is theirs already of right, to be 
claimed and enjoyed as soon as they are made 
acquainted with it, which ought to be at an 
early age. The presumption of saving grace 
is in their favor. And God is true, who 
will faithfully keep His part of the covenant. 
Because the Church is our mother, God is our 
Father ; and therefore in Christ by the powers 
lodged in the keeping of the Church, not out- 
side of her and apart from them — we can claim 
the benefits of His wondrous redemption. 

Our spiritual, as well as our natural birth is 
of God's sovereign power and grace — without 
anything being done towards it by ourselves. 
In both, He works through means, which 
He appointed to their proper ends. In each 
case, we have not only a mother but also a 
father. So, spiritually, we have right and 
power to be born and live, only according to 
God's plan of grace. We repent, because God 
calls us in His gospel to do so ; and in that 
gracious call, by the Kingdom of heaven 
which is now at hand, for such ends, He gives 
us the power to repent. We also believe, be- 



MAKING DISCIPLES. 



*43 



cause He commands us to believe, and bestows 
on us " faith, which is the gift of God." We 
can obey His gospel and keep His commands, 
only as we are regenerated by the Holy Ghost 
and united to Christ — being "born again by 
water and the Spirit." But this itself can 
only come fully to pass in the holy Sacraments, 
and these are in the Church for proper admin- 
istration. In this being born again, not of flesh 
and blood, nor of the will of man, but of God; 
we are converted (or convert ourselves as the 
middle voice of the, Greek verb, in Peter's ex- 
hortation would make it. Acts hi. 19 ;) turn- 
ing, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, in the use 
of the means of grace, from sin unto holiness, 
from a hatred of God to a love of Him, and 
our neighbor ; ceasing to do evil and learning 
to do well ; mortifying the old, and quickening 
the new man. 

These two parts of this miraculous pro- 
cess go thus forward, at every point, together. 
We are crucified unto the world and dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto holiness, 
and "grow in grace and in the knowledge of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

Our churchly and sacramental type of re- 
ligion, therefore, makes room for the possible, 
by normal growth, to become the real. True 



i 4 4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Christian nurture brings this to pass in God's 
own way. " Called to be saints" are we, though 
not yet fully sanctified ; as the living child is 
not yet a full grown man, but has neverthe- 
less all the essential nature of man; this there- 
fore, will, in the use of God's means, become 
in each soul a full measure and stature of a 
man in Christ Jesus. Hence Christian growth 
is not like that of a mushroom, finished in a 
single night. Nor is it like the fitful glare of 
the lightning, now light, now dark again ; nor 
yet, like the spasmodic jerks and starts of a 
dead body under a galvanic battery. But it is 
like the shining light of the morning, a divine 
principle growing brighter and clearer unto 
the perfect day ; or, as Jesus says, like the 
growing grain, " first the blade, then the ear, 
then the full grown corn in the ear." It works 
like leaven into every part of the meal ; and, 
like mustard seed grows and spreads to the 
largest known limits of its power. It is reached 
always, in the Kingdom of heaven, now at 
hand, with grace-bearing powers, to help men 
to repent and believe. 

OTHER SYSTEMS. 

How far many other popular systems of 
religious life are removed from this system of 



OTHER SYSTEMS. 



145 



our Catechism, we need scarcely ask. They 
know nothing of this generic growth of grace, 
from the general ground of God's covenant, 
as we hold it ; except to condemn and repu- 
diate it. 

Popularly, they want the whole process of 
grace to hold outside of the Church and be- 
yond it. Repentance and faith, they get 
somehow elsewhere ; and then, they expect 
the new birth itself, as well as a large mea- 
sure of sanctification, to be found and obtain- 
ed outside of the body of Christ. Before they 
are fit to be called Christians and "join the 
Church," they claim to receive all that makes 
essentially for salvation. What must come 
from the Spirit of God, which is given to the 
Church in the Word and Sacraments, and not 
to the world, they claim to receive from the 
immediate operation of grace, as from the 
clouds. "The mother of us all," they will 
not allow to bear them, till after they are 
born. Then, the Church is only their step- 
mother. 

Baptized children, if they allow Baptism at 
all to the children of Christian households, 
are not in the folds of covenant grace, are not 
in the Lord, are not planted in the garden of 
the Lord to flourish in the courts of our God ; 

13 



146 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



but are ungodly, are yet children of wrath, be- 
long yet to the unreclaimed realms of the devil, 
and in short are in no sense better conditioned, 
by virtue of the grace of their baptism. Run- 
ning wild in the sinful world's dangerous com- 
mons, they are fed on dry husks not as lambs, 
but as foreign swine herds, until they are by 
some means or other, suddenly converted and 
magically brought to return to the full pro- 
visions of their father's house. 

After all then, God is their Father; and 
however far-fetched, strained and magical 
their notion of conversion is, according to this 
false view, the prodigal has to be brought by 
his felt sense of want, bach to Ms Father s house. 
Conversion generally in their idea, is of the 
most unchurchly kind of facts. It is to be 
originated in some frame or state of the hu- 
man will ; or it is to flash like lightning from 
the sky ; or is sought, and looked for mainly 
in some special providence ; or best of all, is 
to be mourned for during some got-up season 
of excitement at a bench. Then after a 
happy experience the subject is fit to join 
Church : and such membership, in some cases 
may be held for years, even as communicants, 
without Baptism having been at all adminis- 
tered. Or where genuine (?) Baptism as by 



FALSE NOTION OF THE CHURCH. I47 

immersion is absolutely required, it is after 
all regarded as a mere form, having nothing 
in it either gracious or useful, and certainly 
bearing no essential relation to salvation. 

FALSE NOTION OF THE CHURCH, 

Their idea of the Church, as far as its use 
goes, is merely to house them safely, as we 
put grain in a granary. It is not to them a 
divinely appointed order of grace, which is 
commissioned, by its ordinances to fit souls 
for heaven. To this unchurchly view, the 
Sacraments are of no manner of value or ac- 
count whatever, as means of grace, and so are 
readily neglected. If, to their notion, only 
happy feeling and subjective experience is 
found, or if they are strictly orthodox, or if 
they only mean to do good, the main thing 
needful they think is at hand, though it be 
not u the kingdom of heaven" with its gra- 
cious powers, as preached by Jesus and His 
sent ministers. 

We have, however, a more sure word of 
prophecy. Our system of Religion, represents 
a divine life begun in us, but endless in its 
power and love. It rests in full on the Scrip- 
tural warrant of Christ's personal merits made 
over to believers. It is not a wild, uncer- 



148 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tain, flitting impulse ; nor a rigid corpse, nor a 
vain thought, a shadowy fiction, an abstract 
reflection; nor is it a notional will, a moral 
rule, a natural goodness, a benevolent pur- 
pose. But it is a life, at once higher than 
nature, and under a supernatural, a divine 
principle. It is at the same time something 
regular, certain, and generic, growing in grace 
until it reaches the realms of bliss and hea- 
venly glory. It is, therefore, scriptural, 
churchly, sacramental, divine-human. 

Very real indeed, is that religious life 
which finds itself at home in our Reformed 
Creed and Customs. For us, it reproduces, 
age after age, the pious life and happy expe- 
rience of the Reformers and martyrs of our 
Church. We may not always live up in full 
to its conditions of grace, in the right measure 
of practical duties in such Christian life. But 
whoever does, becomes saint-like. Some are 
better than their system of faith in its logical 
results ; and so, many perhaps, whose system 
holds the truth measurably in unrighteous- 
ness, may so far surmount their erroneous 
confessional formulas, as to attain to a know- 
ledge of the truth, and be saved. Likewise, 
are there those, w-ho are worse than their 
creed ; and such need not be surprised, in 



FALSE NOTIONS OF THE CHURCH. I49 

failing of the grace of God. Creed, or objec- 
tive truth may be held in a vicious custom or 
imperfect practice of Christian duties ; and 
some practical life, may be better than its false 
rule of faith. 

A true faith and right practice, Catholic 
Creed and Christian customs, belong to saint- 
life. This must be as broad and deep as our 
human life itself, taking up the whole. There 
must be no period of our life, or part of our 
being, given over to the power and dominion 
of the devil. Infancy, childhood, youth and 
maturity all alike belong to God, and there- 
fore should be consecrated to Him. In the 
proper effort to fall in with the overtures of 
God in behalf of our salvation, as He touch- 
es us in His covenant of sacramental grace, 
we become religious. 

Taking the infant child to the Baptismal 
Font, is an act of pious devotion on the part 
of parents ; and receiving it into the 
arms and bearing it on the bosom of the 
Church, is an act of divine grace and 
blessing on the part of God. If then this 
gracious implanting into the covenant, be fol- 
lowed by proper nurture and admonition of 
the Lord, the child will most assuredly grow 
up a Christian. The experiences of Christian 

13* 



150 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



consciousness will in such case not be vio- 
lent and spasmodic, but regular and free in 
the genial order of gracious growth. 

There will be no sudden and uncertain 
camp-meeting conversion ; no river baptismal 
exhibition in the winter ; no gathering in, only 
coming late to pass, after having sown the 
wild oats ; but there will be a whole life of 
grace having true repentance and conver- 
sion, such as in our Catechism (Question 88) 
is held to be necessary. From the Family, 
to the School : from the School, to the Church : 
from the Church, to Heaven. Family train- 
ing in grace and duty leads the baptized youth 
regularly to catechization, and then to confir- 
mation, and then to communion. This is the 
order in which faith will grow into conscious 
experience. Intelligent Christians will have 
divine knowledge, heavenly confidence, saving 
hope and gracious charity. 

Warm and genial piety will reveal itself 
also in becoming forms and decent acts of di- 
vine, public worship ; in humble deeds of 
charity ; in the regular use of the means of 
grace, and especially in the faithful right 
use of the holy Sacraments. To do this 
is better than whole burnt sacrifices. To do 
the wcrk of God, is to believe on Him whom 



INFERENCES. 



He hath sent. It is true religion, which hon- 
ors God in the grace of Jesus Christ, and 
saves the soul. 

1. Let us, therefore, love our church. Hon- 
or our Creed and Customs with a consistent 
and devout religious life, flowing from our 
Catechism. Whatever others may think, let 
us at least feel that our Church is not only 
worthy of our love, but that it is the best for 
us and our children. 

Pity the parents, who do not consider 
their home the best for their whole family. 
A boarding-house life, or a continual running 
from one family to another, is not the best 
way to train children to our family-life. So 
in the Church. Children should be trained 
to the Church of their fathers ; and stick to 
it, too, till they find a better one. Parents do 
wrong, who let their children grow up loose 
and wild without any bias in favor of their 
own Church. Only a foolish child will want 
to belong elsewhere or nowhere, and such sil- 
ly want, shows ill training. As their family 
is better for them, than any other family, 
because God has appointed their life in it by 
the fact of His providence in their birth ; so, 
is their Church also, if it be a true Church, 
better for them than any other Church, for the 



152 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



same divine reason. A well trained family 
will want to belong together. Let each learn 
to say of our Church : 

" Beyond my highest joy 

I prize her heavenly ways ; 
Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 

Her hymns of love and praise." 

2. Let not, however, our church-love and zeal 
beget a sectarian spirit. We can be true to 
our own, without doing harm to others. Lov- 
ing our own family-life, our habits, our cus- 
toms, our meals, and our brethren, we need 
not, therefore, invade the family circle of our 
neighbors to destroy or revolutionize them. 
One of the marked features of our system of 
religion, is its freedom from hostility to others. 
Loving, charitable, free, and Catholic, it is not 
violent and persecuting. It is not greedy and 
aggressive. Our life and prosperity as a 
Church does not depend on stealing from 
others. 

Zeal is not bigotry. The narrowest bigots 
have often the least catholic zeal for the 
Lord. Our Reformed life knows how to suf- 
fer, rather than how to inflict pain. Our 
Church can endure persecutions better than 
put others to the stake, or sword, or torture. 
We had rather have proselyting spirits prey 



INFERENCES. 



153 



upon us, than compass sea and land in such 
bad work ourselves. A loving spirit may be 
meek and long-suffering ; and certainly it 
should be honest and of good repute. Our 
religious life is Catholic, broad and fraternal. 

3. Duty to our own, will nevertheless re- 
quire the humblest life to preserve itself. A 
crawling worm shuns destruction, and in- 
stinctively protects its own life. 

Under the most solemn sense of duty to 
our life as a church, we must at all times 
guard against damage and harm. No true 
mother can quietly see her children torn from 
her bosom. Perpetuation of our type of re- 
ligious life, in the youth of the Church, is 
one of our plainest calls to duty. True reli- 
gion itself demands this. Hence, our earnest 
desire to bring all our children to a know- 
ledge of their birthright in catechization, and 
into its full benefits realized by them in con- 
firmation. Piety here, requires a jealous care 
for the rising generation. This must be saved 
to the Church. 

Quite a serious loss is sustained, when the 
reigning life of the Church is not active and 
zealous enough to preserve to herself her na- 
tural born children. No one need fault us, if 
our religious life seeks thus honestly to sus- 



154 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tain this steady growth of church-member- 
ship by gathering in our own, and preventing 
proselyting by others. 

Youth, born in the families belonging to us, 
are of right our proper material, and as you 
would prevent others from taking away chil- 
dren from your family, so also of the Church. 
But there are others, not in this same sense 
the property of any church, who are as or- 
phans belonging to no family, but who ought 
to have a home, and may be adopted by us. 
To these, we have, of course, common right, 
with all other churches. It is no wrong spirit 
then, that seeks to extend the grace of the 
Gospel as we hold it, to those yet among the 
outside unreclaimed world. The aggressive 
power of the Gospel, to make disciples of all 
nations, requires this of us, if we would be 
faithful to the stewardship entrusted to our 
Church. Our religious life, therefore, is full 
of the missionary spirit. 




CHAPTER V. 



THE MEANS OF GRACE. 



HE kingdom of heaven is at hand; and 



and believe the gospel. Because of this 
supernatural presence, men are now bound to 
make their submission and proffer their full and 
hearty obedience to God. Now that this gos- 
pel light is come into the world, and revealed 
as the light of men, lighting every man that 
perceives its divine effulgence, the greater will 
be the condemnation of those who love dark- 
ness and abide in death. 

Powers are then present, able to bring all 
men to repentance and faith. Means are at 
hand, by which the miraculous grace of the 
new birth may be reached. Signs and seals 
of all the heavenly transactions, by which par- 
don and life, and eternal blessings are made 
sure and steadfast for sinners, have been ap- 
pointed and are made ready to be officially 
administered. Salvation and eternal peace 
are no longer mere probabilities ; but the soul 




men are called upon, to repent 



155 



i 5 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS,. 



may secure the best pledges for the full re- 
demption of those promises only realized fully 
in the blessedness of our heavenly home. 

All the deep mysteries of the Christian re- 
ligion are revealed to our faith in God's own 
right way. It is well then to keep before us 
the heavenly realities thus brought to us by 
the gospel of the blessed God, in our Saviour 
Jesus Christ. Not to reason alone, nor yet to 
mere blind superstition ; but to enlightened 
faith, is the grace of God, which bringeth 
salvation, revealed as the absolute truth for 
the human soul. 

Supernatural in its powers, attributes and 
operations, is this kingdom of heaven, now at 
hand among men. We have this in full, in 
the Holy Catholic Church, to which our Re- 
formed branch holds such a central relation. 
This for us, is the dispensation of God's won- 
drous grace in our behalf, for the saving of 
our souls — and the redemption of sinful men, 
wherever it reaches them. It is a superna- 
tural order of grace at hand and set up in the 
world ; perennially existing by its own divine 
constitution, in a most real and natural way 
among us; and having for its subjects the 
whole human family, so far as they submit to 
its claims 



THE MEANS OF GRACE. 



*57 



Commissioned by divine authority, and 
clothed with supernatural power, the Church 
challenges in the name of her Divine Head, 
the whole human race; and calls them now 
to repent and believe, in order to pardon and 
eternal life. Men, who will not "hear the 
Church" are to be held as heathens and pub- 
licans, in respect to this kingdom. With in- 
visible, divine and hence, spiritual powers, it 
reveals itself to the human race in outward 
organizations, ordinances, and acts, to au- 
thenticate with signs and seals its heavenly 
mission. 

This is all prefigured already in the Person 
of its Divine Head. The Eternal Word, 
its Founder, was made flesh and dwelt among 
men. He came not as a mere invisible, spiritual 
influence ; but in a real outward and visible 
form, in the complete likeness of man — except 
sin. So, He could sympathize fully with men ; 
could therefore teach them ; could also hence, 
know their wants and supply them ; and thus 
could be their Perfect Pattern, their Leader, 
their Prophet, Priest and King, their Divine 
Redeemer. 

Coming down and dwelling visibly in the 
human, His divine power represents therefore 
perennially the condition of the kingdom of 

14 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



heaven at hand among us. This is Chris- 
tianity. The visible organization by which 
it is at hand and known with power among 
men is the Church, the body of Christ, the ful- 
ness of Him that filleth all in all, the ground 
and pillar of the truth, the mother of us all. 

Nothing in the nature of this divine-human 
order makes it purely spiritual and invisible. 
Its human side is not only something able to 
be seen, known, and numbered ; but its divine 
side must join itself with the human in a real 
way by the use of means. Spiritual though 
visible : and visible though truly spiritual. 
This holds first in the life of the God-man, Je- 
sus Christ, who came thus to reveal in His 
own Person, God in the flesh, theDivine Truth 
of Gospel grace and Salvation. It was after- 
wards extended by the Lord's commission and 
the giving of the Holy Ghost, to His Apostles 
and to those who in turn believe on Him 
through them. Men must speak to men and 
teach the revealed truth of God. And the 
better to do this, they are to disciple all na- 
tions ; and thus project continually by visible 
outward forms and means, the power of invisi- 
ble grace and truth in the sphere of human 
life. 

Our Catechism answers the question as to 



THE MEANS OF GRACE. 1 59 

how that faith comes, by which we are made 
partakers of Christ and all His benefits. It 
teaches that the Holy Ghost "works Faith in 
our hearts by the preaching of the Gospel, 
and confirms it by the use of the Sacra- 
ments.' 

Here we have the Means of Grace, then, in 
what is denominated the Word and Sacra- 
ments. These are to be of force always, in all 
places, and for all people. And because God 
will always honor them, in the power of the 
Spirit, the Church shall never fail; and in 
fact has never failed, for the Almighty Lord 
has promised that the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it. 

In the human element as now seen and pre- 
sent, our Lord Jesus Christ dwells, the divine, 
invisible, ever at hand; and, by His grace 
and Spirit, communicates to the body of be- 
lievers in the visible Church, by the use of 
means, repentance, regeneration, faith, right- 
eousness and everlasting life. All this is se- 
cured to those who rightly use the means of 
divine appointment, as surely as God's word 
is true. 

Pre-supposing the means of grace included, 
in the divine commission of the Apostles to 
disciple all nations, there is nothing else to be 



l60 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

added, or needed, for the success of the Church. 
All fanatics and heretics who claim to 
have some better way than this which Christ 
appointed, or indeed any other way, prove 
themselves to be deceived and deceivers. No 
other foundation can any man lay than that 
which is laid for us in Christ Jesus. The 
proper preaching of the Gospel, and the right 
administration of the Sacraments, are the 
means of grace in the Reformed Church. 
These are lodged in the very constitution of 
the Church itself, and there" is real efficacy in 
these means for reaching the end unto which 
God has appointed them; that is, we believe 
there is in them enough power of divine grace, 
if rightly used, to save souls. 

Heretics and fanatics, may charge us with 
trusting too much here; and, if they wish, 
may look for other helps and use their ma- 
chinery to bring themselves and others, into 
the enjoyment of 6i all the benefits of Christ." 

But why should it be thought strange in us 
of the old Reformed Church, that we rest, as 
our fathers did, and as the saints and martyrs 
did, on the wisdom and efficacy of God's plan 
of our obtaining saving grace? Abraham be- 
lieved God, and it was accounted unto him for 
righteousness : so we trust God, to give us, in 



THE MEANS OF GRACE. l6l 
* 

His own way, the full salvation that is in His 
Son Jesus Christ. In the faithful preaching 
of the gospel, we hear the truth ; by the Holy 
Ghost, we obey the gospel, repent, believe, re- 
ceive the signs and seals of the confirming Sa- 
craments, by being baptized and in partaking of 
the holy Supper ; and this our fathers held for 
piety and devotion. 

We, their children, can have no better re- 
ligion. Others may think they have some- 
thing better ; with all the modern improve- 
ments — but it is not a better system, not even 
as good. Here emphatically, what is new is 
not true, and what is true is not new. There 
is something so calm and holy about the 
teachings of our Catechism, that we must ad- 
mire it here especially, beside others who 
point to Christ with their Lo, here ! or Lo, 
there ! But as the Saviour has warned us that 
to find Him, we need not go forth with them 
into the desert, where camp-meetings are 
supposed especially to " bring Him down" in 
answer to frothy petitions and long-drawn 
spiritual exercises. Nor yet, in their secret 
chamber class-meetings of narrow unchurchly 
fanaticism, is it for us to believe they alone 
have Christ. But we obtain Him and all 
His saving grace, by the Holy Ghost, in the 

14* 



l62 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



preaching of the gospel, and in the use of the 
holy Sacraments, which God appointed for 
that end. 

In the Church, and in the use of the 
Means of Grace, the Word and Sacraments, 
in the Church, we are to look for faith, 
which the Holy Ghost works thereby in the 
heart; and only by this faith, regular, true, 
sure, and saving are we made partakers of 
Christ and all His benefits. This is our Re- 
formed view of God's way. 

THE GOSPEL I THE WORD. 

Means of grace are appointed of God. Any- 
thing men may see fit or think necessary to 
add, cannot be regarded, therefore, as means 
of grace. God has made these to be the 
means by which He conveys His saving grace 
to men. 

First of all, the preached Gospel, God de- 
signed to be the means of bringing men to re- 
pentance and faith. It is the divine means 
for bringing the lost race to discipleship in 
order to salvation. "Go ye into all the world, 
and make disciples of all nations." " Preach 
the Gospel to every creature." We firmly 
believe, that, as God has spoken it, this will 
prove efficacious to the end for which, He, in 



the gospel: the word. 



163 



His wisdom and grace, designed it. No hu- 
man machinery of a popular and taking kind, 
is needed to secure for the faithfully preached 
word the powerful effects, of working faith 
in the heart. 

Preaching the Gospel, in the Bible sense, 
as meant in the divine commission, is not just 
what some of the modern sects now make it. 
In the first place, it must always be — not po- 
litical harangues nor popular rant — but the 
Gospel of Christ ; of which Paul was not 
ashamed, because it is the power of God unto 
salvation to them that believe. There is much, 
however, which is put for that, which is an- 
other gospel, or no gospel at all, and, there- 
fore, the fruits are of a different order alto- 
gether. Not only as to its divine contents, of 
truth and grace, but also as to the manner of 
its call to the world, does the Gospel of Christ 
differ essentially and widely from much that 
modern heretical sects bring in under that 
name. 

Gas is not gospel ; nor is rant, repentance ; 
neither is fanaticism, faith. Frothy fervency 
of exhortation in the popular revival-meeting, is 
the common spiritual idea of preaching the 
gospel. Beautiful bombast and vaporing ex- 
halations of the fancy, is indeed the fashion- 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



able kind ; and rationalistic common sense, is 
the practical sort. Anecdote is more popular 
than the story of the Cross, and, therefore, the 
man that would be popular, Beecherizes the gos- 
pel into what pleases the crowd. When this 
kind of gospel fails to bring souls to Christ, 
of course, other means, of human invention, 
which men judge to be more successful, are 
brought into use. In this way, "they have 
taken away my Lord" from the Gospel, and 
tell us not where they have laid Him. 

Divine power, as a means appointed to an 
end, is lodged in the preaching of the gospel. 
Some receive it as the power of God unto sal- 
vation, and to these it becomes "a savor of 
life unto life." Others have this gospel hid 
unto them, "in whom the god of this world 
hath blinded the eyes of them that believe 
not," and to them, it is a savor of death un- 
to death." It has power both ways ; used 
rightly, to salvation, or if rejected, to con- 
demnation. 

The Word, as standing, in sum, for the con- 
tents of the Gospel, is clothed by the Holy 
Spirit with intrinsic power. Of course, it is 
in the Church and committed to her charge. 
At first, the public preaching was not as is 
now common, from a text. The holy Apos- 



the gospel: the word. 



165 



ties did not always harangue the public. They, 
however, took every proper occasion for her- 
alding the good news of grace. They w r ould 
teach the Word to those who were willing to 
hear the heavenly truth. Christ and Him 
crucified; Jesus and the resurrection; salva- 
tion and eternal life, repentance and faith ; 
was their theme. The Cross became their 
emblem and motto and glory. " God was in 
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." 
By the foolishness, the simplicity, of preach- 
ing it pleased God "to save them that be- 
lieve." And by this Gospel the Apostle says, 
"Ye are saved, if ye keep in memory, what I 
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in 
vain." Only to them that perish is the 
preaching of the Gospel "foolishness." 

God's means are always adequate. H^.s ap- 
pointments are sufficient to the end for which 
He designed them, however foolish and 
simple they may seem to carnal reason. Ra- 
tionalism may proudly ask, what good is there 
in the use of such simple means ? How can 
these save the soul ? What relation is there 
between the Word and Faith ? and between 
the Sacraments and salvation ? These are 
some of the questions, commonly raised ; and 
the common opinion reigns even in the sects, 



CREEDS AND CUSTOMS. 



that there must be something added, in order 
to insure the operation of the divine power, 
as though it were not lodged in God's simple 
means. 

Blowing of rams' horns and marching in 
simple procession around the walls of Jericho 
the given number of times, may seem to com- 
mon sense, in carnal reason, a very poor way 
to capture the strongly fortified city. It was, 
however, God's way. Man would have more 
likely, begun to batter the walls with the 
ram's head, made into a battering ram than 
wind the ram's horn, if he expected to see 
thick walls tumble down. But God's plan 
was an easy and complete success. So, all of 
His appointed means will surely reach their 
purpose. 

The preached Gospel, heralded, proclaimed, 
taught, explained, enforced and brought home 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the stew- 
ardship of the ordained ministry, has divine 
efficacy to work faith in the heart. There 
needs to be no added power of an Anxious- 
Bench, or the like inventions of man to make 
the case sure. No other popular human ma- 
chinery is required ; such as is common- 
ly supposed alone to be efficacious in pro- 
ducing true conversion, and a really spiritual 



THE GOSPEL \ THE WORD. 



167 



religion. All that, is fleshly, sensuous, and 
savors not of the things of the Spirit. 

Churchly religion, is by the sects called 
formal. But it is easy to see, that we can well 
afford to be formal, in so far as we depend 
simply on God's power in the use of His 
means. There can be a form without life, it 
is true ; but so, can there be a ghost without 
a living body. We have body and soul in our 
life. And both are redeemed and belong to 
God ; so, He has provided that the true reli- 
gion, which unites us to Him in body and 
soul is to have form and life — form first indeed 
in order to a true life. God made man, and 
then breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life — and man became a living soul. Be- 
cause the Spirit is of God, He works in God's 
means and not outside of or apart from them 
by worldly or fleshly operations. In the 
Church, therefore, is the proper home of the 
Spirit's administrative power. The ordinan- 
ces of the Church, witness that power of the 
Spirit, unto the salvation of men. 

What we of the Reformed Church, there- 
fore, depend on, for bringing faith to the 
hearts of natural men, is the order of grace 
in the Church. "We preach Christ crucified, 
unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the 



1 68 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Greeks foolishness; but unto them that are 
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the 
power of God, and the wisdom of God." It 
has been well remarked that in no other par- 
ticular does the Reformed Church differ from 
others so much as in the Christological em- 
phasis with which she proclaims the Gospel. 

Our idea of the Gospel is not popular 
preaching alone, in the common notion of 
that term. Proclaiming the truth as it is in 
Jesus, is more than a pulpit sermon. The pul- 
pit is always prominent in the Reformed 
Church. In other bodies it may be pushed 
aside ; but not with us. The Roman Catho- 
lics attach little value to mere preaching ; and 
so, the pulpit is of small account in their ser- 
vice. The Altar overshadows all. The same 
may to some extent be said of the Episcopal 
Church, where the pulpit is beside, sometimes 
even lower than, the altar. The old Lutheran 
Church holds nearly the same ground in this 
particular; though it is also in main character 
evangelical, that is a Gospel Church. 

Heralding the Gospel, is to make it known t 
to the public, to the world. Hence, not in the 
regular sermon only, but in the lecture, in the 
teaching of the Catechism and in the subor- 
dinate instructions of the Sunday-School and 



the gospel: the word. 



169 



in the faithful family training, does the Holy 
Ghost work the grace of faith in the heart. 
The whole work and efficiency is of God in 
the human use of divine means. How shall, 
therefore, any one charge us with making too 
little account of the Spirit's agency in our 
system of discipling the world ? We really 
do more honor to the divine, by using simply 
the means of God's appointment in the way 
He has ordained for saving men ; than those 
w r ho add galvanic batteries and mechanical 
operations of man. The only measure of our 
success is the degree of faithfulness, with 
which God's means are used. 

Educational religion is nothing else, neither 
more nor less, than this conception of preach- 
ing the Gospel as a divine means of grace. 
Taking God at His word, that if we, in the 
covenant, "train up a child in the way he 
should go, when he is old he will not depart 
from it." So, we believe, if children be bap- 
tized and properly trained in the family, and 
are then rightly instructed in Christian doc- 
trine and duty, in the Catechetical Class ; and 
afterwards, at proper age confirmed in the 
grace and promises of the Gospel, they will 
be Christians in the true order of covenant 
grace. God fully authorizes us to expect and 

15 



170 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



realize this ; for His part will not fail to be 
made good. 

THE SACRAMENTS ALSO TO BE USED. 

As before stated, the Means of Grace are 
the Word and Sacraments. Both are equally, 
of divine authority and appointment. Both 
are necessary therefore to be used in their 
proper order. Nor is anything else neces- 
sary but what belongs in a true sense to 
these divinely instituted means of grace. 
They are sufficient to accomplish God's pur- 
poses in His plan for our salvation. They 
come to full fruit in our Creed and Cultus. 
The faith and practice of Christian life is 
measured at all points, by the Word and 
Sacraments. Outwardly they come to us, and 
in the divine covenant they apprehend us, 
while they also constitute our personal 
Christianity. They are the Gospel. 

Let this be but well understood, and 
steadily held by our people, as it is in the 
true life of the Church ; and they will be 
largely saved from the troublesome experi- 
mental pretensions of the surrounding sects. 
The idea of churchly religion differs widely 
from the practical feeling and experience of 
the Puritanic system. This last is only re- 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 



I 7 I 



ligious, because it subjectively feels happy; 
the churchly feels happy, because it is truly 
religious. To rightly know, heartily love, 
and truly obey God in Jesus Christ by the 
workings of the Holy Ghost, in the Word 
and Sacraments, is true religion ; and in no 
other way can we do this than by this Gospel. 
Hence, there is no other genuine religion. 

Hearing and heeding the Word, and 
properly using the Sacraments, is the true 
way to obtain the grace of repentance, faith 
and righteousness in Jesus Christ. It is, 
therefore, the main business of the Church 
to bring men to this. Thereby, she makes 
them true disciples. And, such disciples then 
must sincerely learn of Christ till they be- 
come wise unto salvation. Whether or not 
they be hypocrites or sincere on their part, 
is a matter for which the Church has no re- 
sponsibility to be charged with. 

The Church dispenses the Word and ad- 
ministers the Sacraments ; but does not create 
the power of grace in them. They are noth- 
ing more than the channels, (media) the 
means of the true grace bestowed, which is of 
course always from God. The sower sows the 
seed, but the germ of life in the seed is of 
divine creation. The seed, if sown in good 



172 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



soil, with proper light and heat and moisture 
will grow to full fruit. So the grace of God 
in the Word and Sacraments, if the human 
part be at hand, in the necessary conditions, 
will minister to salvation. As many good 
grains sown, may fall where the fowls find 
them, or where the soil is not able to give 
them depth of root, or where the thorns may 
choke them when they do spring up ; so, the 
means of grace, with all their divine life-giving 
power, may not bring to the full fruit of eter- 
nal life, all to whom they come. But most 
surely, all who rightly use them. 

A Sacrament, St. Augustine defines to be 
"a visible sign of an invisible grace." It 
must first of all be appointed of God ; that is, 
it must be divinely instituted. The Roman- 
ists claim that the Church can decree and ap- 
point Sacraments. Hence, those that they 
find convenient to maintain in their system, 
which are not found in the New Testament, 
they establish by decrees of councils. So they 
hold Seven, while Protestants can find divine 
authority for but Two : viz, Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. 

Some of the sects also claim to have more 
than two. They first eviscerate the idea of a 
Sacrament of all its grace-bearing power, and 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 



T 73 



then they can of course add any number of 
"ordinances to the Church.'' So the Dunkard 
sects hold feet-washing to be of the same rank 
as Baptism; and Winebrenner's "Church of 
God/' also, besides feet-washing and Baptism 
divides the Lord's Supper into two — making a 
" lamb supper/' and the communion. The 
Quakers set aside the outward observance of 
all forms ; and hence, they so spiritualize the 
Sacraments as to have none. 

Quakerism is the last result of that spurious 
kind of religion which is so spiritual that it 
despises God's appointed forms. Their sys- 
tem would have a spirit but no body ; but it 
does take a body (form) and a spirit (life) to 
be joined in a living soul. So in the means of 
grace, there is form and life — the visible sissn 
and the invisible grace. 

Besides the divine authority of the institu- 
tion, a Sacrament must then have a material, 
visible element or emblem which is the 
sign of the invisible grace conveyed and 
sealed. The Word became flesh ; which, Gnos- 
tics, Anabaptists, Quakers, and unsacramental 
heretical sects must logically deny. In the 
Sacraments God joins the outward and the in- 
ward in a true bond, for conveying the miracle 
of His saving grace to men. By the Word, 

15* 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



pardon and peace are promised for the faith 
wrought in us thereby, by the Holy Ghost, 
and by the Sacraments He seals the transac- 
tion. According to the Catechism, the Holy 
Ghost "confirms" the faith wrought in our 
hearts already by the preaching of the Holy 
Gospel, "by the use of the Holy Sacraments." 

These Sacraments, the same authority 
teaches us, "are visible, holy signs and seals, 
appointed of God for this end, that by the use 
thereof He may the more fully declare and seal 
to us the promises of the Gospel : namely, 
that He grants us out of free grace, the for- 
giveness of sins, and everlasting life, for the 
sake of the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished 
on the cross." 

Faith is then required to be first present in 
order that it be confirmed in the gospel prom- 
ises. As means of grace the Sacraments are 
channels through which the Holy Ghost 
actually makes over to believers the merits 
and life of Christ. In its proper use, the 
believer makes it to be a Sacr amentum, 
a holy oath, or profession of faith, a con- 
fession of Christ. To-usward it is the grace 
of God in a mystery; in us it is the sa- 
cramental bond of union between Christ 
and His mystical body. But faith is not the 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 



*7S 



principle of a Sacrament, though it be a 
necessary condition as an organ by which 
the divine power of the grace that is in it, 
is to be rightly apprehended and made ours. 
So the eye is not the principle of light, but 
only the organ of vision. The Sacrament is 
not in itself only what faith puts into it ; but 
its real benefits to us, are dependent upon our 
faith: "According to your faith, so shall it be 
unto you." 

German Rationalism and American Puri- 
tanism, both in common, deny any sacra- 
mental power of grace in these divine means, 
for conferring on us, the promised blessing of 
pardon and salvation. What had the washing 
in Jordan to do with the healing power of 
God, in cleansing Naaman's leprosy ? Nothing 
— except that it was God's way to bless him 
with health ; and without using that simple 
means, he would not have been in anywise 
healed. Yet the washing in Jordan itself was 
no better for healing than bathing in the Pav- 
ers of Damascus, of which he thought so 
highly. It was not the washing that cleansed 
him of his leprosy ; but the power of God be- 
stowed on him in the washing, because he had 
faith to rightly use the means appointed to 
that end. 



i 7 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS 



Unbelief in the grace-bearing nature of the 
holy Sacraments is most common and wide- 
spread. It is a great work for our Reformed 
Church to keep itself free from the influence 
of Rationalism and Puritanism, so prevalent 
in the religious teachings of our land. The 
common opinion is that there is much more 
grace in Prayer than in the Sacraments. As 
a means of grace, they would a thousand-fold 
prefer a Prayer to a Sacrament. 

But Prayer is, in itself, no such means of 
grace. Only as it belongs to the religious life 
in the covenant, can it be of any avail. Be- 
longing to God's means as a fruit of the grace 
bestowed in the Word and Sacraments, Prayer 
is indeed able to bring down divine blessing. 
All worship and devotion, in the divine ser- 
vice, in the same sense also, have value for 
procuring us divine grace — but only in right 
relation to the Word and Sacraments. The 
fruits of the Spirit must come, after the Spirit 
has been given and made to work faith in our 
hearts. And the Holy Spirit only comes to 
do this, for us, and in us, by the preaching 
of the Holy Gospel and confirms it in us by 
the use of the Holy Sacraments. The Church 
has these means of grace in her keeping; and 
they can only be rightly employed by her 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED, 



x 77 



dispensation. The Holy Spirit is therefore in 
the world, onlv as He is first in the Church-— 
and in the means of grace, brought by the 
Church, to as many in the world as submit 
willingly to be discipled. 

Christ does not manifest himself unto the 
world, Jno. xiv. 21-22 ; but, unto His disci- 
ples. The carnal mind of the world cannot 
perceive nor receive the things of the Spirit, 
because they are only spiritually discerned. 
It is all nonsense, to think as some that they 
must get religion, first in the sphere of mere 
nature, in the world, — and then come into the 
Church after they are born again, by a power 
outside of grace. The Holy Spirit has not 
been promised, and in point of fact does not 
operate outside of the means of grace, in the 
work of regeneration and sanctification, making 
bad people good without the Church. 

One of our Reformed ministers, having been 
called to comfort a dying man, found that the 
"Only comfort in life and in death" had not 
been taught to him. After duly instructing 
him in the plan of divine grace, he proposed 
to the distressed man that he should submit to 
Holy Baptism. To this, his Puritanic friends 
stoutly objected, inasmuch as the dying young 
man had not yet "found peace " in be- 



, 7 8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



lie ving experience. Delay occurred — but still 
no peace came. Finally the Sacrament of 
Holy Baptism was administered, and then 
heavenly peace followed as proper fruit. The 
young man died in triumphant faith : and the 
faithful minister was persecuted, for taking a 
man into the Church, before he felt happy ! 

Success in the ministry will always be a 
consequence of the faithful use of God's means. 
Because the Beformed Church is somewhat 
peculiar in her steady adherence to the old- 
fashioned faith and customs of our Beforma- 
tion fathers, we have been subject to persecu- 
tion. Some even of her ministers, under the 
influence of the reigning element of the 
modern sect spirit, have faltered in express- 
ing our faith in the Word and Sacraments. 

That the preaching of the Gospel is a means 
of grace, there is much popular sentiment 
ready enough, in its own way, to ac- 
knowledge. The Word, by which is meant 
the letter of the Bible, is therefore freely dis- 
seminated, as though the dead page alone 
were sufficient to convert the world; if it 
can only be scattered wide enough, and 
become common enough in hotels, steamboats 
and counting-rooms, — where it is too often 
only made to serve a convenient use as waste 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 



179 



paper. All that, the subjective spirit of the 
sects will most heartily endorse. It even 
claims for spiritual preaching a certain value. 

But as to the claim, that there is grace-bear- 
ing power in the Holy Sacraments, there is no 
such popular assent. It needs some of the 
old Reformation faith — aye, even Apostolic 
confession, to own that in their use, the Holy 
Spirit confirms our faith. For our Reformed 
Church's fidelity and steadiness in this testi- 
mony for Jesus, even when done in faltering 
apologies, evil rumors are raised as to our 
soundness ; and ill usages have been on this 
account our lot among the Churches. 

Here our Catechism is, however, firm and 
clear. The sixty-seventh question raises the 
very point, whether both of the means of 
grace, the Word and the Sacraments, are de- 
signed to direct our faith to the " sacrifice of 
Jesus Christ on the Cross, as the only ground 
of our Sdvatlon?" And this is the answer 
made; " Yes, truly; for the Holy Ghost 
teaches in the Gospel, and by the Holy Sacra- 
ments assures us, that our whole salvation 
stands in the one sacrifice of Christ, made for 
us on the cross." It meets the modern heretic, 
who exalts the Word the more thereby to un- 
dervalue and degrade the Sacraments, in the 



l80 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

same firm faith and true wisdom, with which 
Christ answered the lawyer as to which of the 
commandments is the greatest. As they are 
all equally important ; so are the means of 
grace alike to be valued. The Sacraments are 
worth as much as the preaching of the Gospel ; 
and therefore we are to use them, as well as 
hear the Word. 

Churchly faith here comes into broad con- 
trast with that kind of religion, that measures 
its piety by experimental feeling. The differ- 
ence is sometimes expressed by the terms, 
high-church, and low-church. But to use the 
Sacraments as means of grace, in order to 
bring really into our possession the merits and 
benefits of the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon 
the cross, the only ground of our salvation, 
is not A^V/A-church, but Reformed Church. 
The opposite of this, that Gnostic spiritual- 
istic system which denies all grace-bearing 
power to the Holy Sacraments, need not call 
itself Zow-church — it is no Church. 

Very strange is it certainly, that we should 
be regarded for our faith, here as in this 
peculiar. Our confession does not differ in 
this particular, so much from that of some of 
the other Protestant bodies. But the sad fact 
seems to be that they do not hold steadily 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 



to what their creeds severally teach them. 
The Episcopal Church teaches in their 
twenty-fifth article, that the "Sacraments or- 
dained of Christ, be not only badges and 
tokens of Christian men's profession; but 
rather they be certain, sure witnesses iind 
effectual signs of grace, and God's good will 
towards us, by the which He doth work in- 
visibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but 
also strengthen and confirm our faith in 
Him." Presbyterians are taught in their con- 
fession, article twenty-seven, that " Sacra- 
ments are holy signs and seals of the covenant 
of grace, immediately instituted by God, to 
represent Christ and His benefits, and to con- 
firm our interest in Him." And the Shorter 
Catechism says, therein " by sensible signs, 
Christ and the benefits of the covenant, are 
represented, sealed and applied to believers" 
(Question ninety-two.) This ought to be the 
faith of all Presbyterians, Old School, New 
School, Cumberland, United, and Seceder — 
but is it? 

Lutherans, even of the American type, 
are taught that the grace of baptism " works 
the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death 
and the devil, and bestows eternal life." But 
faith is not always one with creed. 

16 



182 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



1. Let us then be honest and true to our 
creed, believing that there is intrinsic efficacy 
in the Word and Sacraments — even if we 
do seem thereby to be, in this, somewhat 
peculiar. While we honor God in our faith 
and practice, He will vindicate us as a 
Church. The means of grace, with all the 
real power that is in them, are His appoint- 
ment for our good. 

2. Using the means of grace faithfully 
will surely bring us the divine blessing. 
Hence it is that our Church so much insists 
on the duty of her people, to attend divine 
service; where prayer, praise, reading and 
preaching the Word, and the use of the 
Sacraments will increase and confirm their 
faith. Regular, steady and faithful habits in 
these religious duties and acts of devotion 
make up our personal piety. 

3. Neglecting the means of grace, loses the 
divine blessing, which by their use, is in- 
tended to be bestowed. For this cause many 
are sickly Christians, and some sleep. No one 
has a right to expect salvation, as long as 
the means of grace are neglected, or rejected. 
It is gross impiety, to refuse or despise the 
means of grace. Condemnation and wrath 
will fall upon those who profane or scorn 



THE SACRAMENTS TO BE USED. 183 

God's appointed means for our escape from 
sin and death. 

4. Diligently let each one therefore, hear 
and read the Gospel, pray and praise, and 
use the Holy Sacraments — in which Christ de- 
clares, promises, signs and seals, and makes 
over His miraculous blessings to us. Our part 
is to repent, believe and obey ; and He will 
work efficaciously in His own way, our eter- 
nal salvation, to the praise of His glorious 
grace. 

The God of peace that brought again from 
the dead, our Lord Jesus, that Great Shep- 
herd of the sheep, through the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, make you perfect in 
every good work to do His will, working in 
you that which is well pleasing in His sight, 
through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for 
ever and ever. Amen! 



CHAPTER VI. 



HOLY BAPTISM. 



HEEE are two Sacraments, Holy Baptism 



JL and the Holy Supper. The first Sacrament, 
accordingly held by the Reformed Church, 
is Holy Baptism. Since it is a Sacrament, it is, 
of course, of Divine appointment. It is the 
solemn rite instituted of God, for receiving 
man by formal initiation into the covenant of 
grace, thus securing a right to the promised 
Divine favor. It is the New Testament sign, 
and seal of the Covenant, by which God sees 
fit to confer and make over to the believing 
disciple without any human merit or help 
His grace, promised in the Gospel of Christ. 

Sacramental grace comes to us from God. 
On the Divine side of the Covenant, God 
pledges and conveys certain blessings. The 
gift of the Holy Ghost, in the New Testament, 
is usually joined to the first Sacrament ; sealing 
the pardon of sins, and working repentance 
and faith in the heart of the disciple of 
Christ. 




184 



WHEN APPOINTED. 



I8 5 



On the part of man, there must be an ac- 
ceptance and right use of this sacramental 
grace, if it is not to be made of none effect. 
This includes repentance of sins, confession of 
faith, a renouncing of the world, the flesh 
and the devil, and a hearty act of free self-con- 
secration to God. 

Full guaranty for the ability to do all this, 
is at hand in God's j^ledged blessing more and 
more in degree really bestowed, in proportion 
as we steadily use the means of grace unto 
final salvation. 

WHEN APPOINTED. 

This Sacrament was instituted after our 
Lord's Resurrection, and shortly before His 
Ascension into heaven. "Jesus came and 
spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, 
therefore, and make disciples of all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you, and lo ! I am with you al- 
ways, even to the end of the world, Amen." 

All the baptisms before this, were not 
Christian baptisms. That of John the Bap- 
tist was unto repentance and personal purify- 

16* 



i86 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



ing. So was that administered hitherto by 
the disciples of Jesus. (John iii. 25; iv. 1, 2.) 
The fall force of Christian Baptism could not 
go into effect till the Day of Pentecost. Only 
after the Apostles had been themselves bap- 
tized by the Holy Ghost, and fully ordained 
to their work, could they administer, with 
its full efficacy, this Sacrament and its gifts, 
to others. The use some try to make, there- 
fore, of the baptism of Christ by John in the 
river Jordan^ even, if the mode of that was by 
immersion, which is exceedingly doubtful, is 
vain and worthless, since that was in no sense 
Christian Baptism. Christian Baptism, as we 
have it in the Holy Sacrament of the Church, 
was first administered on the day of Pente- 
cost ; when three thousand souls were, by this 
divine rite, added to the Church. 

IT TAKES THE PLACE OF CIRCUMCISION. 

Before the day of Pentecost the analogous 
rite of initiation into the Covenant of grace, 
was circumcision. What the Jews had signed 
and sealed in the old economy by circumci- 
sion, the Christian has by Baptism in the gos- 
pel dispensation. The covenant grace, pledged 
on God's part to Abraham and his seed in the 
rite of circumcision, was in force long before 



AS HELD IN OUR CATECHISM. 



I8 7 



the law was given by Moses. So the promises 
of grace stand before the commands of the 
law. Deliverance from Egypt, was before 
Sinai and the law. 

Circumcision put the mark of God's sign 
upon the flesh ; so God now puts the sign of 
cleansing water upon His people. Paul re- 
minds the Colossians (Chap. ii. 11, 12), that 
in their Baptism, they had received the spirit- 
ual " circumcision of Christ " in putting off the 
sins of the flesh. Baptism, therefore, plainly 
takes the place of the Jewish rite, for both 
rites were not required of Christians. They 
had all the Abrahamic promised blessings of 
grace now signed and sealed in Baptism. If 
we bear this scriptural truth in mind, it will 
be of service in another aspect of this doc- 
trine, that is, when the conditions and subjects 
of Baptism are to be considered. Historically 
we find the Church steadily holding to its 
freedom in the Gospel Sacrament, from the 
ceremonial observance of the legal types. 

AS HELD IN OUR CATECHISM. 

Presuming, by the terms of Question 69 
that we have a real benefit in our Bap- 
tism, in answer to the mode of our participa- 
tion in the one sacrifice of Christ upon the 



i88 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



cross, we are taught : " That Christ has 
appointed this outward washing with wa- 
ter, and has joined therewith this promise, 
that I am washed with His blood and Spirit 
from the pollution of my soul, that is, from all 
my sins, as certainly as I am washed out- 
wardly with water, whereby commonly the 
filth iness of the body is taken away." 
. Very real then, indeed, is this mystical 
cleansing. Baptism, therefore, is not that 
unmeaning empty rite, which some hold to be 
only a bald sign. It is fully taught us that 
the washing has in it a reality. It is the sa- 
cramental application to the sin-polluted soul, 
of the blood and Spirit of Christ. 

What is it to be thus washed ? That is now 
the vital question. The Catechism answers 
it. "It is to have the forgiveness of sins from 
God through grace, for the sake of Christ's 
blood, which He shed for us in His sacrifice 
on the cross ; and also to be renewed by the 
Holy Ghost, and sanctified to be members of 
Christ, that so we may more and more die 
unto sin and lead holy and unblamable lives." 

God promises, that if we believe and be 
baptized we shall be saved. And He solemn- 
ly declares to Nicodemus, that only those who 
are born of water and the Spirit can enter 



AS HELD IN OUR CATECHISM. 189 

into the Kingdom of God. This is the sine 
qua non, the condition on which men are 
sent to preach the Gospel. 

Does the doctrine of the Reformed Church 
then teach what is commonly known as the 
dogma of Baptismal Regeneration ? The pop- 
ular notion is that the application of water 
alone is the whole of Baptism ; and in that 
case the new birth, if it come at all thereby, 
would have to be in the water. Dunkards sing 
at their " dippings :" 

"Come! every mother's son and daughter, 
Here's the Gospel in the water/' 

Our Catechism raises this point in the 
seventy-second question ; as to whether the 
outward washing with water itself, is the 
washing away of sins. It answers plainly : 
" No ; for only the blood of Jesus Christ and 
the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin." The 
mere outward washing with water is not Bap- 
tism. 

Baptism is not water alone ; nor yet Spirit 
alone — it is not the outward form alone, nor 
the invisible power of God's Spirit alone. But 
when these two parts are joined as they are 
in full and proper Baptism, then the Holy 
Scriptures call it the " washing of regenera- 
tion and the washing away of sins." 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Not to deny the efficacy of Baptism, but 
only to guard against mechanical formalism 
on the one side, and, on the other, as careful- 
ly to avoid flat spiritualistic heresy, is here 
plainly the aim of the Catechism. 

God would teach us by His Word, as here 
construed by the Catechism not only, that 
like " as the filthiness of the body is taken 
away by water, so our sins also are taken 
away by the blood of Christ ; but rnacli more, 
that by this divine pledge and token He may 
assure us, that we are as really washed 
from our sins spiritually, as our bodies are 
washed with water." 

Something very real is always affirmed of 
Baptism, when reference is made to it by the 
holy Apostles. Christ emphatically tells Nico- 
demus that only by the regeneration of water 
and the Spirit, can any one enter into the 
Kingdom of God. As many, and only so 
many, St. Paul declares, as are born of the 
Spirit, they are the sons of God. As many 
as have been baptized into Christ, have put 
on Christ. Gal. iii. 27. Not by works of 
righteousness which we have done, but ac- 
cording to His mercy, He saved us, by the 
washing of regeneration and renewing of the 
Holy Ghost. Tit. iii. 5. The like figure 



BAPTISMAL GRACE. 



1 9 I 



whereunto even Baptism doth also now save 
us. 1 Pet. iii. 11. See also Rom. vi. 4. 1 
Cor. xii. 13. Eph. v. 2G. Col. ii. 11, 12. 
Mark xvi. 16. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Acts ii. 38 ; 
xxii. 16. 

BAPTISMAL GRACE. 

In the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, there 
is then assuredly grace, — real, heavenly, spiri- 
tual grace, not a human gift, but divine grace. 
While we guard against the common notion, 
that Baptismal Eegeneration, as holding in 
the mere outward washing, follows if we at- 
tach any importance and meaning to this 
church ordinance ; we are at the same time 
to avoid the bald conception of those, who 
hold it to be a mere form — with nothing but 
a sign of obedience in it. Those who so falsely 
use it, strip it of its divine character. 

There is divine, cleansing, regenerating, ef- 
ficacy in this divinely appointed means of 
grace. Its last and proper fruit is the im- 
plantation by the Holy Ghost, of the divine 
life of Christ in the soul of the believing dis- 
ciple. Its real force is always to sign and seal 
our confessed repentance and faith, with the 
grace of the covenant. The contents of this^ 



ig2 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



is the only Sacrifice of Christ once offered for 
us upon the cross. 

A sign is in the nature of the case, not the 
thing signified. The picture of a house, or of 
a horse, is not the house itself, or the horse, 
as the case may be. So, Baptism is a Sacra- 
mental means of grace, a grace-bearing chan- 
nel, — not the divine contents of grace itself. 
The water does not become the blood of Christ ; 
yet symbolically, when thus applied to the 
body, it represents the cleansing of that, as 
the blood of Christ cleanses the soul. But 
there is some real, grace invisible, yet effica- 
cious for putting away sin, which it does sign 
or represent and seal — declare and make over 
to the believer. 

"We, of the Eeformed Church, therefore dif- 
fer from those sects, who divest the Sacra- 
ment of Baptism of all its divine force and 
meaning, who make it a mere empty cere- 
mony, easily allowed to run into neglect. 

No less also, do we differ from those who 
run to the other extreme. The Lutheran 
doctrine, in the symbolic books, teaches un- [ 
conditional Baptismal Kegeneration — though 
the larger portions of that Church in this 
country, are perhaps not in harmony with their 
symbols on this doctrine. They either reject 



BAPTISMAL GRACE. 



r 93 



the teachings of their books entirely ; or else, 
so explain them, as to contradict their general 
formula. 

High-church Episcopalians, also hold the 
doctrine of baptismal regeneration in an ex- 
treme sense; that all persons receiving the 
holy Sacrament of Baptism, are regenerated. 
Great differences of opinion, however, obtain 
among them as to the degree of the efficacy of 
this sacred rite. The words of their twenty- 
seventh article, call it " a sign of regenera- 
tion or New Birth, whereby, as by an instru- 
ment, they that receive Baptism rightly are 
grafted into the Church ; the promises of for- 
giveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the 
Sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly 
signed and sealed." 

Romanists call it "the Sacrament of re- 
generation by water in the word." They 
speak unhesitatingly, of those who have 
"been cleansed in the purifying waters of 
Baptism." From the baptism of Christ in the 
Jordan, they teach that : "to the water was 
then imparted the power of regenerating to 
Spiritual life although Christ was not re- 
generated in His baptism by John. So also, 
they define the mode : "that the Holy Ghost, 
by His invisible agency, still infuses into the 

17 



194 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



heart, at the moment of Baptism, those bles- 
sings of incomparable excellence." See Cat. 
Council of Trent. Art. Bapt. 

Unquestionably modern sects in Protestan- 
tism, teach the very opposite of what the 
early Church held for faith, in this Sacra- 
ment. The ancient Church held and taught, 
that Christian Baptism was the very sacra- 
ment of grace of the cleansing and renovating 
divine power brought to view for the use of 
sinners ; conveying the sign and seal of the 
remission of sins, the gift of adoption, and 
the pledge of eternal life, to all who were 
faithful to their high calling. Our Reformed 
Church seeks to be faithful in holding at least 
the reality of the sacramental grace promised 
and conveyed by means of Baptism. 

EFFECTS OF THIS GRACE. 

AH the parts ef true Pretestantism, at the 
first, not only held the means of grace gener- 
ally in high honor, but acknowledged espe- 
cially a gracious benefit in Baptism. As to 
the precise force of this benefit, and the de-l 
gree of grace at hand, there were various 
shades of opinion and teachings. But these 
had not run out into the negatives, denying 
all power in it, so common to our age. 



EFFECTS OF THIS GRACE. 



*95 



The common notion now is only that of the 
Baptistic sects, whose heresy is apparent, in 
the fact, that whatever necessity they attach to 
the form of this Sacrament, they strip it of all 
sacramental force, and teach that it is only to 
be used as a mechanical form after they are 
converted and have become Christians. It 
has no relation to their salvation. Many 
others under puritanic influence whose Refor- 
mation Creed, historically, would teach them 
better than what they affirm, hold that there 
is no intrinsic sacramental grace in Baptism, 
that the subject baptized gets nothing but 
what he had before. 

Presbyterianism, as to its great body, with 
but individual exceptions, has fallen sadly 
away from its standards on the doctrine of this 
Sacrament. They do not, as their Confession 
of Faith, and Catechisms plainly do, hold and 
teach something really gracious, true sacra- 
mental grace in the Sacraments. To them, 
now generally, Baptism is only an outward 
washing with water, not the washing of regen- 
eration by water and the Spirit. If adminis- 
tered to infants, it confers no grace and leaves 
the child no better than before the holy trans- 
action. It is hence, among them, very largely 
neglected. Their general notion is that prac- 



196 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tically, it were better, if all could have it ad- 
ministered to them after they are converted. 
Virtually they are Baptistic in their view of 
this ordinance. 

Sacramental grace, however, in the nature 
of the case is a reality — for unless there be the 
invisible as well as the visible part present, 
there is no Sacrament. The visible part, or 
sign, represents the invisible part, of which it 
is the symbol. The sign is a sign of something 
which it signifies. The seal must have some- 
thing sealing in its character. The sign and 
the thing signified are the two parts of 
one sacramental transaction. Both the out- 
ward and inward, the visible and invisible, 
must be present in order to a true Sacrament. 

Hence in Baptism, the outward washing is 
not all. Nor is the Spiritual washing by the 
Holy Ghost all. But the outward washing of 
water signs and signifies the inward washing 
by the Holy Ghost, with the soul-cleansing 
blood of Jesus Christ. As both these belong 
to Baptism, neither one part alone, is the 
Sacrament. But the two properly joined is the 
full completion of the Sacrament. This con- 
veys and makes good for the soul, the benefits 
of Christ's One Sacrifice on the cross. This is 
done sacramentally ; that is, it is by divine 



EFFECTS OF THIS GRACE. 



I 97 



power to us, acting through divinely appoint- 
ed means. 

Efficacy belongs to the very nature of a 
Sacrament. It is that, by which God brings 
to man, certain good fruits of the sacrifice 
made upon the Cross. In the Sacrament, the. 
power of the grace is not of man, either by his 
act of believing, or otherwise, as operative 
towards God; but all the efficacy is of God, gra- 
ciously towards man. The efficacy and power 
of the grace in Baptism is then from God 
upon the soul of the baptized. Life from the 
deadness of sin, pardon and cleansing all come 
from God ; and He has promised and pledged 
these divine operations, in the use of His 
means. How He brings all to pass, we cannot 
rationally, carnally understand, but it is done 
sacramentally. That is, the power of this 
grace is mysterious, supernatural and divine ; 
but it is nevertheless efficacious, in making 
real, for true repentance and faith, all that is 
pledged therein. What is signed, is verily 
sealed also, and becomes efficacious to salva- 
tion, unless, the grace of God is made of none 
effect by carnal unbelief. Only do not prevent 
the grace of God ; do not stand opposed to it ; 
do not hinder it — and its proper effect is uni- 
formly, the saving of the soul. 

17* 



I98 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

Let the grace of God, brought to us sacra- 
mentally, have free course, run and be glori- 
fied ; and it most surely ministers to salvation. 
To do this in a passive obedience, first and 
simply, is the best form of faith. Throw your- 
self but into the arms of Jesus — and He will 
most undoubtedly save. How can this be 
done better than by doing as He commands ! 
That is the way all salvation comes, from 
God to man, not man adding a part to make 
effectual, the inefficiency of God's means. 

Faith and obedience have a reward prom- 
ised. But the reward is not of merit, but of 
grace. All is of grace ; and all grace is of 
God ; and God's grace is efficacious to the sav- 
ing of mankind. This comes to us as the 
good news, proclaimed in the Gospel, and is 
confirmed by the right use of the Sacraments. 

USE OF THE SACRAMENT. 

Of what use then is the Sacrament of Bap- 
tism ? To sign, seal and make over to the 
baptized the promised grace of the Gospel. 
Approach it from whatever side we may, it 
leads to this same general truth. God is in- 
deed not bound to the Sacraments ; but man 
is bound to their use, as the appointed chan- 



USE OF THE SACRAMENT. I99 

nels of grace, the only way we know of, to be 
saved in Christ. 

There is in every Sacrament, a mystical 
relation, or sacramental union between the 
sign and the thing signified. The efficacy of 
Baptism is not in the outward washing of water 
merely ; nor is it confined to an inward spiri- 
tual experience. But as man's soul is the bond 
of life between body and spirit ; so, the grace 
of God is for man's soul, to save him as to 
his whole human nature. Hence it is not in 
the visible sign, nor yet in the invisible part 
alone ; but it is in the proper bond of union 
holding between the two sides, as a myste- 
rious, supernatural, divine, sacramental power. 
Sacramental grace is a God-power acting man- 
ward, never in any part from man working 
God-ward. 

Saving powers, all act in the same direc- 
tion. Like the light and warmth, the dews 
and showers of heaven, coming, from above 
downwards, grace touches and saves man. 
Though God might have seen fit otherwise to 
have ordered it, in point of fact, He does in His 
wisdom and goodness make the light and 
heat to come down in the rays of the Sun. 
Now man may shut off from himself or from a 
portion of vegetable life in his garden, the 



200 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



genial rays of the Sun ; and so prevent the ef- 
ficacy of its life-giving power from taking 
proper effect ; so may a carnal heart of wilful 
unbelief make the grace of God, of none effect, 
as to the power operating to save. 

The eye in a healthy or natural state is the 
organ of sight. But if the eye be diseased, or 
if man wilfully shuts it; he prevents sight 
only to that eye ; but it does not destroy the 
efficacy of the Sun's light, which does enable 
others to see under ordinary laws appointed 
of God as means of vision. 

Seed has a divinely created germ of life in 
it, which under proper conditions will grow up 
and produce fruit after its kind. This is God's 
law, as to the efficacy of that kind of life. 
But man may deny to that seed the conditions, 
whereby its growing power is to be developed. 
Cannot the same be true of the germ of divine 
grace, conferred in the Sacrament of Baptism ? 
God has not made its power irresistible — 
though it has divine power, efficacious to save 
graciously, if man is only willing to allow it 
to become operative by the power of God in 
His own way. 

Baptism is, therefore, not The Saviour; but 
it is a saving means by which the one sacri- 
fice of Christ made upon the cross, which is 



WHAT COMES FROM GOD. 



201 



our only hope of salvation, is made over to us. 
It is an effectual means of grace ; in which, 
we really have offered, exhibited, and con- 
ferred, by the Holy Ghost, the gracious 
benefits of the blood of Christ. In this blood 
the Spirit washes the soul from its pollu- 
tion and guilt, that is, from all sins. It also 
includes in this washing, by the blood and 
Spirit of Christ, forgiveness of sins from God, 
through grace, and renewal by the Holy 
Ghost, and final sanctification. See Heid. 
Cat. Ques. 69-70. 

WHAT COMES FROM GOD. 

One great danger is to fall into error, as to 
what is the Sacrament itself. If it be a joint 
concern in which God only furnishes a part 
of its power, and man completes what God 
cannot finish, or, as is generally held, man 
"gets good enough " first, to be fit for Bap- 
tism, then much of the common notion would 
be right. ^ 

But since God instituted it, as a holy ordi- 
nance, well suited to its divine purpose, between 
Himself and man ; in which He gives a sign to 
be used, representing grace bestowed, and also 
gives a seal of assurance, that His grace is 
made ours— rwe must regard it, as working 



202 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



from the divine side downward upon man, 
without any contribution to it from man. 

Keeping in mind that regeneration, forgive- 
ness of sins, and ingrafting into Christ are from 
God by the working of the Holy Ghost ; it is 
neither heretical nor superstitious, to look for 
this, to be actually brought to pass in the 
grace of God bestowed in our use of the Sacra- 
ment of Baptism. Yet there are many who 
would rather look for it, and find it, and claim 
it in some outside personal experience, any- 
where else indeed, than in this Sacrament. If 
there is any regeneration, they will not own 
that it is in the washing of regeneration — or 
that it has a necessary relation thereto. 

Rationalism, not faith, finds trouble here. 
For faith, not only is there possibility in the 
rite of full and proper Baptism, for the grace 
of God to reach from the heavenward side of 
the Sacrament; but the probability also, and in 
all cases, where the efficacy of the grace is not 
obstructed, the certainty of final salvation. 

Value and validity are not added, or taken 
away from the Sacrament, by profane unbelief. 
Esau could barter away his birthright : but 
could not destroy its value or validity — except 
in its operation on himself. So the benefits 
and blessings of the same divine birthright 



UNSACRAMENTAL FORMALISM. 203 

were not rendered more nor less gracious and 
effectual for good, when transferred to the pos- 
session of Jacob. That is, neither " profane 
Esau/' nor the " supplanting Jacob " added to 
or took away from the efficacy of the birth- 
right's blessings. But to the profanity of the 
one, it became of none effect ; while to the 
faith of the other, it brought all the blessing 
that God had joined intrinsically to it. 

Who will now dare profanely to say that 
the covenant birthright of Baptism, has noth- 
ing in it but what man's faith makes it? 
Faith is needed to secure the benefits of its in- 
trinsic grace — but not to create that grace 
itself. 

UNSACRAMENTAL FORMALISM. 

The common reproach against us of those 
who hold low views of the Sacraments, is that 
our doctrine leads to lifeless formalism. But 
is the charge true ? Are we of the Eeformed 
Church, who hold and teach the truth of sacra- 
mental grace, by virtue of that fact, formalists 
in religion ? 

Let us ask the question in another form. 
Are those especially spiritual, who use a form, 
merely as a form, and are those especially for- 
mal who use a form for an end by divine wis- 



204 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



clom appointed because it is more than a form ; 
that is because it has a spiritual and grace- 
bearing power in its right use ? 

Now the Baptistic sects, who only practice 
the form of Baptism, after persons have be- 
come, as they argue, full born Christians 
without it, plainly tell us, that it has nothing to 
do with making us Christians. A form that is 
nothing but a form, has no life in it — is there- 
fore a dead form, a useless thing. To give 
honor to that, to stickle for it as an essential, 
to insist that all must observe it after their 
special mode; what is that but the deadest 
kind of formalism ? 

Puritanism claims to be especially spiritual ; 
and yet Puritanism is constitutionally unsacra- 
mental. It claims that there is nothing gra- 
cious in the Sacraments. If Puritanic churches 
practice the rite of Baptism, it is not because 
they believe there is any good or sacramental 
grace in the use of the ordinance. Hence they 
observe it as a mere lifeless form; and in doing 
so, claim that their religion is more spiritual 
than those who believe in sacramental grace, 
and who therefore hold the Sacraments in 
honorable and faithful observance. 

We submit now that we are not, in this re- 
gard, formalists. Is that lifeless formalism 



UNSACRAMENTAL FORMALISM. 205 



that takes God's promises at their real value ? 
Was Abraham formal because he believed God, 
which was accounted to him for righteous- 
ness ? So we, in Baptism, believe that Gods 
grace is efficacious, according to His j>roinise, 
to bring to us the benefits of Christ's sacrifice 
upon the Cross. Bather are they open to the 
charge who say, there is nothing in the Sacra- 
ment, but who still observe it as a mere form. 

Quakerism is more consistent in this re- 
spect than Baptists and Puritans. They 
teach also that the form of Baptism is worth- 
less, fleshly, dead, and so they give it up ab- 
solutely. The others say also that it is a 
valueless form ; and yet they keep up the 
form without any gracious life or meaning 
in it. 

We are not lifeless formalists, nor mad 
either, most noble Festus, because we find in 
God's ordinances life and spirit and gracious 
blessings ; which make up a vital religion for 
the faith of the Beformed Church. 

Farmers sow good seed because they believe 
it has germinal life in it, not merely to go 
through the formal motions of sowing. So 
they are not formal, if they use the right 
means to an end. Who would be formal fool 
enough to sow lifeless seed, or pebble-stones, 

18 



206 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



or gravel, or sand, and expect a living crop ? 
Our faith receives the healing virtue that goes 
out of the Person of Christ, and reaches us as 
it were through " even the hem of His gar- 
ment," which, if we but touch belie vingly, will 
cure. And yet the virtue is not in us, nor in 
our faith touching the Saviour through the 
Sacrament, but in His divine Person alone. 
To get that healing virtue applied to our 
souls in the use of His appointed means, is no 
more formalism, than the sowing of seed by 
the farmer who wants to reap a crop that 
grows from God's creative power alone. 

Not to believe in the gracious benefits of 
the Sacrament of Baptism, and still practise 
it, is to say the least more savoring of formal- 
ism ; than for those to conform to its divine 
conditions, in the faith that God thereby ex- 
hibits, offers, and bestows the benefits of 
Christ's sufferings on the cross. Here the 
Reformed Church stands on an old and well- 
tried foundation. This faith in divine grace, 
has been a life-giving power, from the Apos- 
tles down to the Reformers, and through them 
to our fathers and to us their children. We 
are in the covenant, the children of the pro- 
phets, and heirs according to the promises; | 
and these promises we believe. 



MODE OF BAPTISM. 



207 



Another important question, in the present 
state of Protestantism, is raised in regard to 
the Mode of Baptism. Three modes are 
known in the practice of the Church : viz. by 
sprinkling, by pouring, and by immersion. 
Each of these is considered valid by the Re- 
formed Church ; but pouring water, by scoop- 
ing it up with the hand from a laver or bowl, 
is the most befitting mode, and so, in use ac- 
cording to the general Custom of our Church. 

MODE OF BAPTISM. 

Baptism is properly defined to be " an appli- 
cation of water to the body of the subject to 
be baptized, by a properly authorized person, 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." As the virtue of 
Baptism is not in the water, but in the blood 
of Christ, it does not depend for its efficacy 
on the amount of water applied to the body 
of the baptized person. Nor does it depend 
upon the mode or manner of applying the wa- 
ter ; whether sprinkled, poured, or dipped in- 
to it. Neither does it essentially matter, to 
what particular part of the body the water is 
applied. Some are however like Peter, who 
when our Lord wanted to teach a lesson of 
humility by washing His disciples' feet, would 



208 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



not at first be washed at all, and then want- 
ed to be washed all over, to make it good. 

Concerning its essential conditions, more 
depends upon the symbolical use of the wash- 
ing with water, than upon any amount of 
dipping, immersing, scrubbing, scouring, pour- 
ing or sprinkling. There ought always water 
enough be applied to represent the proper 
sign of the spiritual washing or symbol of 
cleansing. It should represent in some proper 
sense, the idea of a washing. Those delicate 
and very fashionable ministers who barely 
wet their finger-tips enough to sprinkle a mere 
drop upon the person baptized, carry their 
mode to a questionable extreme. 

Doubtless the most appropriate part of the 
body, to which the water should be applied in 
this figurative washing is the head, or fore- 
head of the face. In doing this the Roman 
and Greek Church along with the application 
of the water make the sign of the cross, and j 
add other appendages to the administration of 
this Sacrament. The old Lutherans and 
Episcopalians also make the sign of the cross. 
The Reformed Church simply uses the form of I 
our -Saviour's commission to His Apostles. 

baptists' mode. 
Immersion is assumed by Baptists to be J 



baptists' mode. 



209 



the only valid mode. Because Baptism by 
immersion was a mode in the early Church, 
they, denying the others also practised, assume 
that it is the only mode. And then they per- 
sist with dogmatic vehemence that baptizo 
means to immerse, and that haptisma and bap- 
tismos, means immersion. Then, they want 
you to prove from the Scriptures that Jesus 
commanded the Apostles to sprinkle or pour, 
and not baptize, that is, not immerse. 

Unhistorical, unchurchly and, therefore, 
fanatical, the whole baptistic system thus 
proves itself to be. Because they can find 
some probable cases where the early Church 
practised the administration of Baptism by 
immersion, they persist in claiming that all 
the Church used this mode in all cases of Bap- 
tism. It is however a question, by no means 
absolutely settled, whether or not the immer- 
sion anciently used was total or only partial ; 
that is, whether the whole body was put un- 
der the surface of the water, or whether they 
merely stood in water and had a portion 
poured upon them. 

Even in those Eastern countries where the 
bath was in common use, it is by no means 
certain that it was always so constructed as 
to admit of the whole body being submerged 

18* 



210 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



at the same time. Indeed the presumption is 
almost certain that such was not the case, 
for the most part. It is then exceedingly 
difficult, nay impossible for Baptists- to prove 
that the practice of total immersion of the 
body was ever the mode in use by the Church. 
And why should it not be their duty to prove 
this, if they wish to set aside the prevailing 
custom of the Church for centuries ? The 
burden of proof is certainly with them ; and 
we may very properly challenge them to es- 
tablish their point with Scripture proof, not 
assume it to be so. We hesitate not to de- 
clare " that immersion in Baptism, in the sense 
of dipping the whole body in and under water, 
cannot be proved from the New Testament" Let 
Baptists try it fairly. 

For the last three hundred years only, have 
these heretical wiseacres lived ; thus leaving 
the main voice of Christendom to condemn 
their assumption. If the mode of Baptism 
prevailing at the time of the Beformation, 
was an innovation and abuse of Romanism, it 
must be tried like all other abuses then set 
aside by the Reformers. The word of God, 
and the voice of the Church in harmony with 
that, was the test of any prevailing custom 
or doctrine. And the Reformers appealing to 



EARLY CHRISTIAN RECORDS. 211 

this rule retained the old mode of Baptism. 
Only the heretical Anabaptist fanatics raised 
unwarranted issues. At first even they only 
objected to the practice of Household Bap- 
tism, but afterwards also joined issue, as to the 
mode. 

Going then, to the law and to the testimo- 
ny, we find that if they speak not according 
thereto, it is because they have not the truth 
in them. 

EARLY CHRISTIAN RECORDS. 

You want to be satisfied then, that the 
mode of Baptism claimed by the Baptists as 
the only valid one, is a very modern assump- 
tion. It would be for them to prove it by di- 
vine authority. The Holy Ghost, in the 
Apostolic Church and in the New Testament 
must be the guide to the truth. The oldest 
Christian records are, therefore, of service 
here. Let the Baptists appeal to them. 

How will the Catacombs answer ? These 
were the home of the Church during its 
purest days, when the fires of persecution 
burned out the dross. This period was from 
A. D. 64, to A. D. 305, or say 311, when the 
Roman Empire became Christian, and hea- 
then persecution of the Empire ceased. Chris- 



212 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tians worshiped, and used the Sacraments in 
the catacombs, under ground to escape perse- 
cution for more than a hundred and fifty 
years from the death of Peter and Paul. 

In one place in the catacombs under the 
city of Rome, they cut a little chapel out of 
the solid rock, in which they held their wor- 
ship. In that also, they " excavated a baptis- 
tery, and painted on the walls rude pictures, 
representing the administration of Baptism," 
and other Christian rites. This remember 
was before they were corrupted by the papa- 
cy. Indeed these things were perhaps made 
by the immediate fellow-Christians of St. 
Paul, or those instructed by them. There 
was nothing in the nature of the Church's 
condition to bring in any change of Christian 
customs and practices. The Christian doc- 
trines and customs were surely those of our 
Lord and His Apostles. 

Keeping this in mind, now let us see if the 
claims of the modern Baptists are such as will 
hold water enough for dipping the whole body 
in water at Baptism. The Baptistery, or place 
in which they baptized those early perse- 
cuted Christians, pure as yet, at least from 
Papal abuse, is two feet deep, two feet long, and 
two feet wide. How could persons baptized in 



EARLY CHRISTIAN RECORDS. 21$ 

it, be totally immersed ? Possibly you could 
dip an infant in such a structure — but Baptists 
deny the Sacrament of Baptism to infants ; and 
adults must be put entirely under the water ! 
According to their assumption there could 
have been no Baptism there ; and yet as a 
matter of fact, those persecuted Christians, 
under the teachings and examples of the Holy 
Apostles, martyrs, and confessors, did baptize 
in that chapel out of that baptistery all who 
were baptized there for many years. 

Just as strong also is another record from 
the same place. On the side of this little bap- 
tistery, is rudely painted on the rock in fresco, 
corresponding to the ancient art, a picture of 
Christ's Baptism by John the Baptist in the 
river Jordan. It represents Our Lord as stand- 
ing in the river, while John is on a rock or 
the bank of the stream pouring the water upon 
Our Saviour s head. 

If our Lord had been put under the water in 
the river, how could they have so soon forgot- 
ten the fact, and changed its representation ? 
Such a striking event, joined with the visible 
descent of the Holy Ghost, would doubtless 
make a lasting impression upon the eye-wit- 
nesses ; some of whom became His disciples, 



214 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



and doubtless taught their followers the main 
facts of the case. 

But, say the Baptists, that proof is only 
tradition, and is not in the Bible. Very well ! 
You appealed for your proof to earliest Chris- 
tian Records. If they fail you in proving im- 
mersion, then let us go to the Bible itself, and 
see whether there is anything in it, which re- 
quires Baptism to be administered by dipping 
the whole body in water. 

NEW TESTAMENT RECORD. 

Only two kinds of proof can be given here. 
One may be in the form of a direct and posi- 
tive command, with particular instructions, as 
to the mode of Baptism. Nowhere in the New 
Testament is there a direction to dip in w^ater 
the whole body of the person to be baptized. 

Well, then, this argument fails the Baptist 
too. No categorical injunction is given as to 
the mode. Then the mode is not esssential or 
else would Our Lord, or His Apostles, led by 
the Holy Ghost into all truth, have given the 
rule in plain words not to be mistaken. If 
there be then any Scripture argument in favor 
of the assumption of the Baptist — for since 
there is no formal command, it is only an as- 
sumption, nothing more till proven — it must be 



NEW TESTAMENT RECOP.D. 



2I 5 



in the form of inference, or must be construc- 
tive in its force. 

"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the 
Holy Ghost." Anointing the whole body in 
— What ! Water Baptism only is an emblem 
of Baptism by the Holy Ghost. "On the Gen- 
tiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy 
Ghost." Peter quotes the prophet Joel, where 
God says He will " pour out " His Spirit upon 
all flesh. Pouring out upon, is not dipping 
into and under. 

" Both Philip and the Eunuch," however, the 
Baptist reminds us, went down into the water. 
That, says the Baptist, means that Philip dip- 
ped the Eunuch in the water, that is, put his 
body under it. If the Scripture says so, it says 
as much of Philip also ; for both went down 
into the water and both came up out of the 
water. If this proves that on^ was uxder the 
water, which however it does not affirm, then 
was the other also under the water — which is 
more than the Baptist wants to prove. To af- 
firm that because Philip baptized him, he was 
put under the water by Philip, is to beg the 
whole question; for we are just trying to 
find out whether the Scriptures mean put- 
ting under the w^ater, when they speak of 
baptizing. 



2l6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Under the water, to be sure, says the Bap- 
tist j for Paul speaks of our Baptism whereby 
we are hurled with Christ. Our notion of hur- 
rying is, to be put in a grave and covered over 
with soil. But the new tomb in which Jesus 
was buried, was cut out of the side of a rock. 
And besides, Paul does not speak literally, 
but under a figure. We are only planted "in 
the likenes^ of His death. If they were lit- 
erally crucified in the likeness of Christ's 
death, then also may it be claimed we are as 
literally buried in the waters of Baptism. For 
crucified with Christ, dead with Him and hur- \ 
ied with Christ into death, are all alike literal 
or figurative. All are certainly real, but only 
in the spirit, not in the flesh. This figure 
proves nothing as to the mode, only as to the 
efficacy of Baptism. "The like figure where- 
unto even Baptism doth also now save us." j 
But the figure of Noah's salvation in the ark, ! 
does not require him to be put under the wa- 
ters of the flood, but only in the ark of the 
saving means. 

John baptized in "Enon near to Salim, be- i 
cause there was much water there." Translate \ 
the much water literally and it means many 
waters; that is in Enon, among the springs, 
there were many streamlets. And these were 



SCRIPTURE MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 21 7 

not likely deep enough to dip people in. 
There is no necessary immersion in this Scrip- 
ture. Even when he baptized in Jordan, it 
is not said that he dipped them under the wa- 
ter. Jesus came up out of the water, not out 
from under it. But the early Christians did 
not believe nor teach that He was put under 
the water. They, doubtless, taught by the 
Apostles who witnessed it, were accustomed 
to picture it, as we have seen, Jesus standing 
in the river, and John on the bank pouring 
water on Him with his hand or from a shell. 
So the example used by St. Paul, of all the 
fathers being baptized unto Moses in the sea 
and in the cloud. They were surely not 
dipped under the waters of the sea, for we 
read that they all went through dry shod. 

Vainly then do we seek in the New Testa- 
ment for an example of baptizing by immer- 
sion, or dipping the whole body in water. 
The Baptist then fails as signally in this form 
of argument, by examples, as in seeking for a 
direct command to prove this mode of Bap- 
tism to be the only valid one. Then he turns 
to the 

SCRIPTURE MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 4 ; 

Much wronsT is done to Christianity when 

10 



2l8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



men make the Holy Scriptures mean what 
heathens mean by using the same words. 
The New Testament is not like any other 
book. Classic Greek definitions are, there- 
fore, not fully applicable to the words used by 
the writers of the Gospels and Epistles. The 
best plan for reaching the true meaning of 
the words baptizo, baptisma, baptismos, used in 
the New Testament is to find out if possible, 
what sense the writers using them attach to 
the Christian rite they employ these words 
to represent. 

They were Hebrews in habit, thought, and 
life, but wrote in the Greek language. Their 
theme, thought and words were peculiar ; like 
no other writers, and like no other writings in 
that language. Hence what some classic 
Greek, heathen writer might mean by using 
any given word, must not be forced upon the 
same word in the New Testament. Chris- 
tianity has a vocabulary of its own. The i 
children of Canaan have a language of their ; 
own. Its mode of thought and expression r 
differs in meaning from that of the world, 
especially the ancient heathen classic world. 

Baptizo, the Greek verb, to baptize, may j 
then be presumed to differ in its meaning, as 3 
defining the Christian rite, from its classic use 



SCRIPTURE MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 



219 



among the heathen, unless, indeed, Christian 
Baptism is nothing more than a heathen cere- 
mony. But it is something more ; it is a 
Christian Sacrament ; and, therefore, it differs 
from all that heathens meant when they used 
the same word to give their idea, in the verb 
to baptize. The same, of course, is true of the 
word Baptism. 

Referring now to the use the Apostles made 
of these words, they seem to mean wash and 
washing. St. Paul speaking of the effects of 
Baptism calls it "the washing of water b}^ the 
word," Eph. v. 26, and the "washing of re- 
generation." Tit. iii. 0. What was then this 
mode of washing, as set forth in the Sacra- 
ment of Baptism ? 

Evidently not dipping or immersion. Paul 
himself was called upon to arise and be bap- 
tized and wash away his sins. Acts xxii. 16. 
Ananias here calls Christian Baptism, a wash- 
ing. So Paul tells the Christian Corinthians 
they are washed. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Can we 
now find out how this washing was done in 
Baptism? The Philippian Jailer "took Paul 
and Silas " the same hour of the night, and 
wished their stripes, and was baptized, he and 
all his straightway. Acts xvi. 33. He most 



220 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



surely washed them in his artificial bath, and 
was doubtless baptized in the same. 

Now the baths, in general use, were small 
enough to be carried;- and were often not more 
than three feet in diameter, and perhaps a foot 
deep. As early Christians were generally poor, 
they would most likely only have the cheap- 
est and smallest baths; from which baptisms 
were made, as that of Paul by Ananias at Da- 
mascus, by pouring water upon the person to 
be baptized, who either crouched in the bath 
or stood beside it. There could be no total 
immersion, or dipping of the whole body in 
water in such a vessel. 

This much is still more plain, from the 
meaning that the Apostles give to words used 
instead of baptize, and baptism; which uni- 
formly mean washing, where it is necessarily, 
only a part of the body — and not a total im- 
mersion. The Pharisees, and all the Jews, 
except they loash (nipto, Greek) their hands 
oft, eat not. And when they come from the 
market, except they wash, (baptizo, Greek) 
they eat not. And many other things there 
be, which they have received to hold, as the 
washing (baptismos, Greek, the baptisms) of 
cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. 
Mark vii. 3, 4. 



SCRIPTURE MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 221 

Now if nij)to y and haptizo are used here to 
mean the same thing; and, if nipto in the 
New Testament never means to wash the 
whole human body, but only parts, as hands, 
face and feet ; then to baptize does not mean 
in the Scriptures, measuring the meaning of 
the Evangelist by his own definition, more 
than a partial washing — certainly not total 
immersion. 

Several places in the Gospel (as Matt. xx. 
22-3. Mark x. 38-9, and Luke xii. 50), 
the word Baptism means affliction. In some 
other places it does not mean the Sacrament 
of Baptism. 

The washing of tables, in the above passage, 
from Mark vii. 4, which tables we find to 
mean their eating-couches — at least four feet 
wide, and six feet long, fastened to the floor, 
which the Jews (baptized) washed, before 
eating — was rendered simply impossible \ if the 
Baptistic definition of Baptizo be claimed ; for 
then it must always be the total immersion of 
the eating-couches (tables) _in a body of water 
large enough for the purpose— not to be found 
in Jews' houses, 

" Divers washings," (baptisms, Greek,) Heb. 
ix, 10, is taken by St. Paul to be sprink- 
ling. (See v. 19), not immersion. And the 

19* 



222 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Baptism by water of all the people in the Red 
sea and in the cloud, (1 Cor. x. 2) was not 
certainly by dipping; for the waters of the 
sea did not touch them, as they went through 
on dry land. If the Baptism was by water it 
fell upon them doubtless from the cloud — it 
was poured upon them, but did not totally im- 
merse their bodies. So to be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost was to have the Holy Spirit 
poured out upon all flesh. Acts i. 5-11-19-33. 

Poor help then the Baptist's assumption 
finds in the appeal to the New Testament use 
of the words baptize and baptism. Instead 
of proving that the mode must be immersion, 
it only proves that there is no command for 
practicing it, no example of it on record, no 
probability of its being the common mode, and 
in some case it was not even possible. 

THE ROOT OF BAPTIZO. 

Zealous still in his assumption, however, the 
Baptist next appeals to the root of the word 
baptizo. Let him find the root, and decoct its 
power. The root comes from the Greek verb 
bapt, and you never saw a smattering Baptist 
but knew it, though he never studied Greek in 
his life. The translators of the Bible stuck as 
close to the root as they could. Bapto is trans- 



THE ROOT OF BAPTIZO. 



223 



latedby the verb to dip; while baptizo trans- 
lated baptize is left almost in its original form, 
and baptisma and baptismos only changed to 
baptism. If then bapto had been analogously 
translated,, to bapt it would hold the same rela- 
tion to our tongue as the other words which we 
see were left so nearly in their original form. 

The verb Txtpto occurs several places in the 
New Testament. Let us find its meaning 
from its use, there. In Luke xvi. 24, the 
Rich man prays to Abraham to allow Lazarus 
to dip, {bapt) the tip of his finger in water 
and bring the drop that hangs on the end of 
his finger to relieve his parched tongue. To 
bapt then here, is to touch the surface of water 
with the tip of the finger. There is no use to 
submerge the whole finger, for but one drop only 
adheres when withdrawn. So to dip, or bapt, 
the finger is to wet the finger end or tip only 
of the finger. In John xiii. 26 the same 
word occurs, " To whom I shall give a sop, 
when I have dipped it," (hapted it) . In Mark 
and Luke the word is embapt for " dippeth his 
hand with me in the dish," and " dippeth with 
me." 

The dipping of a sop, and dipping the hand 
in the dish were not immersion ; nay, could not 
be. The dish was not full of swimming gravy 



224 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



into which to immerse the sop, or submerge the 
hands ; for the Passover lamb which they had 
just eaten was not toiled, or " sodden at all 
with water." They had to " roast it with fire/' 
till there was left no raw or rare part in it. 
Small juice indeed, would drain from a lamb 
thus prepared. The piece of unleavened cake, 
something like a piece of cracker, could hardly 
have more than scooped up a little of this juice 
for a sop. Especially after thirteen persons 
had eaten of this roast lamb, John xiii. 2, 26. 

Little room then is there here in this form 
of the argument, appealing to the roots, for 
the bold assumption of the Baptists, to estab- 
lish immersion as the mode of Baptism re- 
quired in the Scriptures. 

Eefuge is now sought by the Baptist in an- 
other direction. He now appeals to the tradi- 
tions of the Welsh Baptists, who claim that 
their ancestry practiced Baptism as now held 
by the Baptistic sects, until the Pope intro- 
duced, more than a thousand years ago, the 
other modes among them. The authentication 
of this tradition is, to say the least, more dif- 
ficult than some of those held by the Boman- 
ists themselves. No respectable church his- 
torian has thought it worthy of mention. 

Repudiating Christian traditions of the first 



THE ROOT OF BAPTIZO. 



225 



two centuries, when the church was yet pure, 
and which are as durably recorded as the tes- 
timony of the early martyrs could make them 
in the rocks of the Catacombs, the Baptist 
must be hard driven, if he despairs of Bible 
proof and takes to the uncertainty of this 
Welsh story ! 

Nay ! Protestantism in its earliest and best 
results, as well as in its most real principle al- 
ways is against the Baptist's mode. So is the 
voice of the Holy Catholic Church, from the 
Reformation back to the Apostolic period. 
The Records of Primitive Christianity disprove 
the Baptist's assertions. And the Holy Scrip- 
tures refuse to give testimony in favor of his 
unwarranted assumption. 

Hence, our Reformed Church can well af- 
ford to pay little respect to the presumption of 
that modern Rationalism which aims at sub- 
verting the old, sacred and sacramental life of 
the Church. We hold not only the old cus- 
toms, but the mode, and the sacramental grace, 
and the whole churchly idea of Christian Bap- 
tism of Catholic Christendom ; as over against 
all rationalism, heresy, and modern infidelity, 
" Even Baptism doth also now save us, not the 
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the 
answer of a good conscience toward God, by the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter, iii. 21. 



CHAPTER VII. 



HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM. 

nnHE Apostolic commission is most broad 
X general. Our Lord includes, without 
any exceptional classes literally, all man- 
kind. "Disciple all nations" is the order! 
And, of course, the general, includes all par- 
ticulars. So the "all nations" includes, all 
ranks, conditions, colors, races, families, sexes, 
and also all ages in them. So the idea of a 
flock, includes young and old. 

Hence, our Reformed Church, holds and 
teaches that Baptism, the way by which dis- 
ciples are to be made, is intended for all these. 
This comes out especially, in Household Bap- 
tism, which also includes, what is now com- 
monly called Infant Baptism. 

Anabaptists, now known as the Baptist 
sects, join issue with our practice of this cus- 
tom ; and demand Bible proof for its authori- 
ty ; instead of being able to show a positive 
prohibition excluding infants from privileges 
226 



HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM. 



227 



hitherto enjoyed by them. They are so spirit- 
ual too, as only to administer Baptism to those 
who are converted and are already Christians, 
believers ! And they "want to know by what 
right we violate God's order and conditions of 
this holy ordinance by taking in children ! 

No direct or special and separate command 
is found in the New Testament to baptize in- 
fants. But that does not exclude them from 
the benefits and conditions of the covenant of 
grace. Baptists, and those under the ration- 
alistic power of the Baptistic mode of thought, 
do violence, therefore, to the organic nature of 
the Christian covenant, in excluding " young 
children," "little children," that is, infants, 
from the folds of divine covenant grace. They 
are more cruel in this, than the natural feel- 
ing of the heathen chief, who, as a father, al- 
lows his children all the benefits of their re- 
lations, to his family ; and more heartless 
than the civil State, that permits children to 
stand in the family and inherit their patrimo- 
ny, without consent, and in the State to en- 
joy the civil rights of citizens by the mere 
fact of their birth in the family and in the 
State without their previous personal agree- 
ment. What heartless cruelty is there in 
that kind of Christianity, that will not per- 



228 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



mit the children of Christians to partake, in 
the same organic way, of blessing in the cove- 
nant mercy of God. 

Viewed from this organic standpoint, it 
might rather be required of the Baptist, to 
prove from the Bible that infants in Christian 
households have been excluded by direct and 
positive command, from the benefits of Bap- 
tism. This would be even more impossible, 
than what they ask of us. But as there is no 
categorical command either way, the argument 
for, or against, this custom, must be historical, 
and constructive, as to its Biblical authority. 

Those who want to change Christian cus- 
toms, ought to prove those customs wrong, 
which they wish to have set aside. So that 
it is the duty of the Baptist rather, to show, 
that the custom of Household Baptism, as 
prevailing in the old Catholic Church, and re- 
tained by the Reformers, is unscriptural and 
without Apostolic sanction and practice. It 
is, therefore, no small piece of presumption in 
them, and an evidence of the weakness of 
their position, when they turn around and 
shift the duty of proving the matter upon us. 
Let us look then at the authority for this cus- 
tom. 

Following up the stream of Church History 



VOICE OF CHURCH HISTORY. 229 

we find that there is no period between now 
and the beginning where this custom of 
Household Baptism was first introduced. It 
is but fair to conclude then, that it always ob- 
tained in the Church. If not, there would 
have been opposition doubtless made to it, 
when the innovation, if such it is, was first 
brought in. No such unanimity was ever 
known, where such an important custom 
could be changed without opposition. The 
changes made at the Reformation, were most 
violently opposed ; and the efforts of the 
Anabaptists to introduce disorder and confu- 
sion were no less stoutly withstood. So all 
the various heresies and schisms, that afflicted 
the church, from the days of the Apostles on- 
ward, are all marked by historical opposition. 

As nothing answerable to this, is found with 
reference to the custom of Household Baptism, 
it is but fair to say that it was not a novelty 
at any period of church history. From the 
absence of all controversy in regard to this 
custom, we very properly infer that the 
Church never was seriously troubled with this 
heresy of the Anabaptists, and such as now 
hold their views of Baptism. 

Controversy and trouble enough the Church 
had with Heretics ; as with the Gnostics, the 

20 



23O CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

Arians, the Sabellians and the Nestorians. So 
also with Socinians, the Donatist schismatics 
and those similar movements of less threaten- 
ing proportions. But nothing like this, is there 
to show, in regard to opposition to the custom 
of Household Baptism. 

Doctrines and Customs were affirmed and 
established by controversy and opposition. 
So in regard to the doctrine of the Trinity, 
as finally affirmed in the Ancient Creeds. 
And the custom in regard to " heretical bap- 
tism," and the celebration of the Easter festi- 
val, as well as other similar matters, all leave 
traces of differences of opinion. But in the 
matter of Household Baptism, the Church of 
all ages has been of one mind — till the modern 
Anabaptist heresy called out the steady re- 
sistance of the Church in favor of the old faith 
and universal custom. 

J ustin Martyr, and Irenseus of the second 
century, Cyprian, Origen and Tertullian in 
the third century, and Chrysostom, and Gre- 
gory of the fourth century, give testimony to 
the universal practice in the Church of House- 
hold, or Infant Baptism. "The Church de- 
rived from the Apostles a tradition to give 
Baptism even to infants," says Origen. And 
the Catacombs, in which " are tombs of little 



VOICE OF CHURCH HISTORY. 



23I 



children buried between the years A. D. 64, 
and 305/' give testimony, by the records en- 
graven on the rocks, to the fact that infants 
in the early Church were baptized. If this 
custom was not received from the Apostles, 
who practiced it — when was it first introduced 
into the pure Church of the age of persecu- 
tions ? Let the Baptists answer — if they 
can. 

Augustine in his controversy with Pelagius 
was charged with denying infant Baptism, 
whereupon he repels the charge in the follow- 
ing language : 

"Men slander me as if I denied the Sacra- 
ment of Baptism to infants ; I never heard of 
any, not even the most impious heretic, who 
denied Baptism to infants." 

Such a testimony is conclusive to show the 
prevailing opinion and practice in the early 
history of the Christian Church. If Augustine, 
born 354, after the birth of Christ never heard 
of any person who denied Baptism to infants, 
we may safely conclude that it was the doc- 
trine and practice of the Church from the days 
of His Apostles to baptize them ; and that 
the denial of it was not known for many 
years after the time of Christ — indeed we have 
no evidence to show that the doctrine of in- 



232 



CREED AND CUSTOMS 



fant Baptism met with any serious opposition 
until about 1,100 years after Christ. Since 
which time heretics, fanatics and others gene- 
rally have continued to cry out against it. 

History is proof enough for some things. It 
is indeed the only kind of evidence we can 
have for some doctrines and practices. The 
proof that the books of the Bible are the 
true books, is found to be of this kind. The 
proof for the Lord's day taking the place of the 
Sabbath, is of the same sort — .running back 
historically to the custom of the Apostles. So 
the authority to baptize women. We might 
then be willing to rest here, against any 
amount of rationalistic argument of the Bap- 
tist, however plausible ; and hold fast to the 
old Church custom of Household Baptism. 

BAPTISM INSTEAD OF CIRCUMCISION. 

We can afford however to go further. We 
are still more established in the custom, by ar- 
guments drawn from the analogy between the 
covenant promised in Baptism and that of 
Circumcision ; and also from a fair construc- 
tion of Apostolic custom in the New Testa- 
ment itself. 

Our Heidelberg Catechism grounds its main 



BAPTISM INSTEAD OF CIRCUMCISION. 233 



position on this form of argument. In answer 
to the question : Are Infants also to be bap- 
tized ? It answers heartily : Yes ; for since 
they, as well as their parents, belong to the 
covenant people of God, and both redemp- 
tion from sin and the Holy Ghost, who 
works faith, are through the blood of Christ 
promised to them no less than their parents ; 
they are also by Baptism, as a sign of the cov- 
enant, to be ingrafted into the Christian 
Church, and distinguished from the children 
of unbelievers, as was done in the Old Testa- 
ment by Circumcision, in place of which in the 
New Testament Baptism is appointed. Quest. 
74. Tercent. Ed. 

Christianity is not only equal to the grace 
that was in Judaism; but is more general, 
more Catholic, and farther reaching in its ef- 
fects. Judaism took into the covenant all 
parts of itself; as to sex, age, and condition. 
Unconscious infants received its blessings and 
benefits — which, remember also were only to 
be for faith. It was at all points organic — in- 
cluding whole families, down to infants but 
eight days old. 

Now shall it be for a moment supposed, 
that Christianity, which was to enlarge the 
blessings of the covenant ; so that they were 

20* 



234 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



no longer to be for one nation, merely — but for 
all nations ; so that it became Catholic, that 
is, for all nations, races, people, kindred and 
tongues, in all lands and islands of the whole 
earth, and in all times, from the beginning to 
the end of the world — can we suppose that 
the Christian system would be more limited 
in its benefits than was Judaism? The very 
question does violence to the idea of Chris- 
tianity. 

It did not begin by cutting off infants from 
the blessing they had in the Abrahamic cove- 
nant. If it did, where is the command for 
it ? Nowhere in the Bible. If the Apostles 
were to exclude children from the system, 
which enlarged that covenant with which 
they were familiar, doubtless they would have 
been so directed. But as they were not pro- 
hibited by our Lord from bestowing the Chris- 
tian covenant rite of Baptism upon families, 
whole households, including, of course, in- 
fants ; we infer that they would at least con- 
tinue that custom, as it obtained even in the 
more narrow life of J udaism, which included 
the believing father and all his house. 

Had Christianity begun by cutting off the 
children, which are always fully one-fourth of 
the whole population, from the benefits of 



BAPTISM INSTEAD OF CIRCUMCISION. 235 

covenant grace ; the Jews, who were accus- 
tomed to the old Abrahamic Covenant, which 
included infants of eight days old, and up- 
ward — the Jews, we say, would surely have 
raised this as a well-put objection against the 
new claims of the Christian Church. But as 
we know, the Jews, with all their hostility 
to the Church of Christ, never raised this ob- 
jection. Is it not plain, from this conclusive 
inference, that there was no ground for such 
objection to be made ? Because children were, 
in the Apostolic practice, included in the new 
covenant by Baptism, as they were in the 
old, by Circumcision. 

Peter actually uses this argument to the 
Jews at the first Christian Baptism, on the 
day of Pentecost. " The promise is unto you 
and to your children ;" and afterwards ; " Ye 
are the children of the prophets and heirs ac- 
cording to the promises." As is the promise 
of the covenant, so should be the initiatory 
sign and seal, which was Circumcision in the 
old order, and Baptism in the new dispensa- 
tion. Without making any violent change, 
the conditions and subjects of the one, were 
fit to be the conditions and subjects of the 
other. If circumcision could confer real cove- 
nant benefits on the children of believers, it 



236 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



is a lame compliment to Christianity, to say, 
that Baptism has less power to reach children 
now, than had circumcision then. St. Paul's 
mention of the Baptism unto Moses, of " all " 
the Israelites, who passed the Red Sea, inclu- 
ded, without exception, infants and young 
children. 

Paul calls Baptism, by which we are made 
disciples, and made to put on Christ, "the 
circumcision of Christ," (Col. ii. 11), by which 
the body of the sins of the flesh is put away. 
Thus he connects directly the old idea of cir- 
cumcision with that which takes its place in 
Christianity. It is all sheer folly for the Ana- 
baptist to claim that Baptism requires faith ; 
for so did circumcision, no less — and, if a 
Jewish infant, only eight days old could be 
brought into the Covenant of Faith by being 
circumcised, without subjective faith or any 
act of his own, and so, receive all the pro- 
mised benefits of grace and salvation; why 
cannot the "better covenant" bring the same 
power of saving grace to the child of Chris- 
tian parents by Baptism ? As the rule of 
including children in the old economy was 
not set aside, by our Saviour, nor by His 
Apostles acting under His commission and 
guided into all truth by the Holy Ghost — the 



BAPTISM INSTEAD OF CIRCUMCISION. 237 



modern Baptist is acting on a terrific pre- 
sumption, in forbidding Baptism to children. 

Christ Himself acknowledged the force of 
covenant grace in circumcision to make little 
children fit members of the Kingdom of God. 

Young children and little children were 
brought unto Him, because they could not as 
yet of themselves come to seek His blessing. 
He did bless them on the faith of their pa- 
rents. And He declared of them, that of such 
is the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is His 
Church, on earth and in heaven. Such like 
little ones, as these children of the covenant, 
which God receives, if brought to Him, — of 
such is this kingdom. 

According to the Baptistic theory, Jesus 
would have said : "Oh foolish mothers, to 
bring your children to Me ! Take them 
away, till their own believing hearts bring 
them to Me for My blessing. They are too 
young yet to be blessed in My Kingdom, for 
they cannot believe for themselves ; and My 
religion is more spiritual than the old system, 
which allowed parents to secure divine bless- 
ings for their children in the organic nature 
of the covenant. But Mine is more atomis- 
tic — every one must act now absolutely for 



238 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

himself/' Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 
could not utter such cruel nonsense. 

Such cold and barren conditions were not 
made part of Christ's Baptismal covenant. 
Children of Christian parents hold an organic 
relation to the grace of the Gospel ; the same 
as in the old covenant. They are not indeed 
born holy ; but have all the taint of evil, of 
natural sin. But the elective grace of God 
bestows blessings on them, if they are brought 
to Him, just as the parents themselves also 
must receive the sign of the Covenant. 

APOSTOLIC PRACTICE OF HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM. 

Our Catechism understands Peter to say 
this, when he calls upon his convicted hear- 
ers to "repent and be baptized every one," 
that they would thereupon receive "the re- 
mission of sins and the gift of the Holy 
Ghost," which is promised to them and to 
their children. He does not in this broad de- 
claration, except the little ones, till they be- 
come adult, children. Because they had the 
promise, they could, both parents and children, 
be baptized. You cannot, and dare not, 
therefore, separate between them. Both have 
the promise of redemption and the gift of the 
Holy Ghost — children as well as parents, and 



APOSTOLIC PRACTICE OF HOUSEHOLD BAPTISM. 239 

the age of the child is not specified ; hence 
infants are also to be included in Baptism. 

In the New Testament we have at least 
five families baptized by the Apostles. First, 
Peter baptized Cornelius, his kinsman and 
near friends. Paul baptized Lydia and "her 
household/' and the Jailor at Philippi and 
his "house," and the "household of Stephan- 
as/' and Crispus of Corinth, "with all his 
house." 

Besides, all the many other places in the 
New Testament referring to Baptism, there is 
no limit, or exception made as to infants. As 
the covenant was thus, organic in the Old 
Testament, so is it also without doubt, in the 
New Testament. Paul speaking of the chil- 
dren of believers, if only one parent be in 
the covenant, calls them "holy." "Else were 
your children unclean, but now are they 
holy." (1 Cor. vii. 14). Certainly not holy 
by natural birth. How then, if not in the 
covenant, by Baptism ? Children of believ- 
ers are by nature unclean, as well as others. 
It is only in the order of grace, that they are 
in a state or condition to become holy. 

If Paul meant, as Baptists say, when he 
told the Philippian Jailor, in answer to his 
question, what he must do to be saved : "Be- 



240 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



lieve on the Lord J esus Christ, and thou slia.lt 
he saved and thy house' — that if each one sev- 
erally believed for himself, and would be bap- 
tized on his own responsibility and profession 
of faith, he would be saved ; then he should 
have excepted expressly little children, who 
were too young to exercise faith. Saying, 
"and thy house" as far as they are old enough 
to believe for themselves. 

Unlikely indeed would it be, to take five 
adjacent families in any street of a town, or 
in any district of country at random, in which 
no children would be found. At least there 
would be servants or helps, who would not be 
of mature years ; or if in adult years, it 
would be stranger still, if each individual, all 
became believers at the same time ! What- 
ever the case may have been, all the house- 
hold, whether infants or adults, were baptized 
on the faith of the head of the family. That 
is still w^orse for Baptists. 

Relationship in the Lord depends upon this 
covenant condition. Duties spring out of it. 
Parents to children, children to parents, as 
well as husbands to wives, and wives to hus- 
bands — in the Lord. J ohn writing unto fath- 
ers, and young men and little children, tells 



FAITH IN ORDER TO BAPTISM. 



241 



these last, that their ••sins are forgiven" them 
for Christ's name-sake. 

Jesus is the Redeemer of children as well as 
of adults. Childhood and youth is not left to 
itself outside the folds of saving grace. Christ 
passed through all the stages of our human 
life, in order to redeem and save those of every 
condition or age. If infants are saved, why 
not give them the sign of the covenant ? Out- 
side of the covenant of salvation, in which 
alone the saving merits of Christ are pledged 
and bestowed, there is no hope for either in- 
fants or adults — so far as God's promises 
pledge His grace to redeem man's soul, only 
so far Pie authorizes us to preach. If Bap- 
tists would have children saved, who die in 
infancy, and, by their system, of necessity out- 
side of the covenant; they must have some 
way of saving them, not made known in the 
gospel. 

FAITH IN ORDER TO BAPTISM. 

He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved. If thou believest with all thy heart 
thou mayest. 

At first Baptism was administered to be- 
lievers, of course. Just as circumcision was 
to believing Abraham, and to every heathen 

21 



242 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



adult convert to Judaism. But it was, by 
the promises of "redemption and the gift of the 
Holy Ghost/' also to their children. Abra- 
ham had Isaac and his household circumcised. 
So a convert to Christianity was baptized 
and his household. Faith was needed in both 
cases. As circumcision, in the nature of the 
case, was afterwards administered only to 
infants — except in the case of converts ; so 
Christian Baptism now is only administered to 
the infants, except in the case of new converts 
from the uncovenanted world. Hence the great 
bulk of those baptized, receive the sign of the 
covenant, in unconscious infancy. Is this con- 
trary to God's conditions for Baptism? 

REPRESENTATIVE FAITH OF PARENTS. 

Family faith first represents the child's un- 
conscious faith. Repentance and faith is then 
at hand for the child, by the parent or spon- 
sor. This representative character was ac- 
knowledged in the old covenant. And the 
family relation is not broken up in the new. 

Children are born into the family without 
their consent. Parents make the condition of 
the child in the family what it is in the child's 
being. Whatever kind of life, habits, thoughts, 
words and actions prevail in that family will 



REPRESENTATIVE FAITH OF PARENTS. 



become part of the children. Their education 
and fitness for future life depends on what 
touches them here in the family. If parents 
are respectable, and their training is good, the 
child will reap the benefit. If the opposite of 
this be true — the fruit will appear in the child. 
Few children ever break away from the family 
type, in which their character has been mould- 
ed. 

Blessings, or the reverse, may be secured for 
the child, thus, on the representative character 
of the parents. They may engage and pledge 
the child to this or that, as the case may be. If 
the family is .infidel, the child will not be 
Christian. If the parents are faithful Christians, 
they will secure the covenant blessings so far 
as they can for their child. Only if the child 
grows up and repudiates the covenant, does 
he forfeit the blessing. So only did the grown 
up Jew child break God's covenant, and lose 
His saving grace. If he as he grew up hon- 
ored it, and afterwards ratified it, by obeying 
its conditions he was certainly saved. Now 
cannot this be so, of Christian Baptism ? Aye ; 
as sure as the Lord is a covenant keeping God, 
unto children's children of them that fear and 
know His name. — even unto thousands of them 
that love Him and keep His commandments. 



241 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

Train the child to value his birthright in the 
covenant, and God will own the faith that 
secured it to him. 

CHILD-FAITH. 

On the ground of those who claim that 
Baptism can only be given to those who ex- 
ercise a personal faith in conscious experience, 
it will be hard to claim even salvation for in- 
fant children. If they must have faith of 
their own for Baptism, so must they also then 
have faith in order to salvation. And if they 
can be saved, on repentance and faith holding 
in the family relation, as the child-life also 
holds there ; drawing its life-power from the 
breast of the mother, and also from the first, 
its moral and intellectual status from the at- 
mosphere of the home-circle ; why should 
they not have the covenant blessings signed 
to them by Baptism on the same account ? 

Little children may, however, themselves 
have faith analogous to their own stage of life. 
As this is merely germinal, so may their faith 
be of the same order ; yet sufficient to save 
the soul of only infantile development. If 
faith is the gift of God, may He not afford 
that gift, at any stage of life, in such degree, 
as is necessary for saving the soul, which has 



CHILD-FAITH. 



245 



only reached such given stage of life ? The 
capacity for believing, is born with every child 
— though it may not be at once brought into 
conscious exercise. At first children do not 
perhaps so believe, as that we can say they 
have faith in God ; but they have faith in 
their parents, and through these, as God's ap- 
pointment, their faith becomes intelligent just 
as their obedience to parents is at first obedi- 
ence to God. 

God's word plainly teaches that parents are 
ordained of Him, to be substitutes for their 
little children, and He thus authorizes them 
to think, judge, act and believe, as well as 
covenant, in their stead. This is no less true 
in the State than in the Church. The civil 
rights of children, citizenship and property ; 
duty to laws and society ; rank and social 
place — all hold at first in the parents. The 
child may be unconscious of the fact, yet is 
he a member of the State by birth or natural- 
ization of parent ; and all these things are 
without consent or belief, except as existing 
in possibility, afterwards to appear. 

Knowing as little as we do of the infant 

life of the human soul, it is not possible to 

say at what age the child may not exercise 

faith. There are Bible examples of Samuel, 

21* 



246 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Timothy, 
where the power of the Holy Spirit appears 
to act upon early childhood. So in modern 
times, there have been Christians of unques- 
tioned spiritual life, who own that if the 
Holy Spirit did not regenerate them before 
they were conscious of the fact, before four 
years old, as Dr. Watts — they never felt His 
power at all. 

ELECTION AND FREEDOM. 

Some say, that to administer Baptism to 
infants is to interfere with God's election ? As 
if His election was not in their favor, when 
the promise of " redemption and the gift of 
the Holy Ghost" was made unto them. Born 
of believing parents, He, by that fact, elects 
them into privileges and grace ; which it were 
wrong not to enable them to enjoy. The chil- 
dren of the covenant are elected, by virtue of 
the favor of God, which places them within 
the encircling arms of His sacramental grace. 
It is not an accidental thing that this or that 
child is born of Christian parentage, and not 
in a heathen land, beyond the reach of the 
Holy Sacrament. 

Liberty on the part of the child, it is also 
said, is invaded, by pledging and making bap- 



ELECTION AND FREEDOM. 



247 



tismal vows in his behalf. If obligations to 
love God and serve Him rest on an unbaptized 
child, is it not worse than heathenish to de- 
clare, that the rights of the child have not 
been held sacred ? Wait, say they, till com- 
ing to mature years, these engagements may 
be freely assumed or rejected without pre- 
vious bias. So some parents say, in regard 
to religious duties, but not in reference to 
temporal benefits. 

Do they so act in other things ? Did they 
so consult in regard to the child's birth, whe- 
ther, he chose to be born or not ? And if so, 
whether he preferred America to some other 
land ? Or, did they consult him, as to his 
choice, to learn to speak his mother- tongue, 
or some other language ? 

Exactly in this choice of parents is freedom 
for the child : that parents do the best they 
can for him. Hence, they teach him to talk, 
and train him to other proper personal, social, 
family and civil habits ; send him to school ; fit 
him for trade or business life ; take care of his 
health ; and secure for him as much patrimony 
as may be. The same solicitude requires that 
they mould his religious life in the right type. 
Hence they desire to have him become a 
Christian. They secure for him the birthright 



248 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



of the covenant ; and train him in the fear of 
the Lord, which, is the beginning of wis- 
dom, and at the same time also the highest 
freedom. 

The liberty to know and to do right, is the 
best that parents can secure for children. In 
obeying God, they find the true liberty of the 
sons of God. If the Son make you free you 
shall be free indeed. 

Parents no more interfere then, with the 
proper freedom of their children when they 
engage for them in Baptism, that they shall 
grow up to be Christians ; than when they re- 
quire them to go to school, and to obey the 
laws of the land. 

In fact, the whole order of life, in the tri- 
fold relation to the Family, to the State and to 
the Church, holds in organic power, not in 
mere isolated atomistic existence. Man's life 
is what it is civilly bv virtue of his relation " 
to the state ; and religiously, it is no less true j 
that it is what it is, by virtue of his relation 
to the Church. In each and all of these rela- 
tions there are powers that come to bear upon 
us, outside of ourselves. We are fully as much 
apprehended by them, as we apprehend them. 

General and particular life, flow together. 
Infant membership in the family rests first in 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



249 



the general life — then grows into the self-con- 
scious person. So in the state : and so in the 
Church. In all, we are alike bound, and 
alike free. 

SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 

Our organic view of the covenant, begets a 
corresponding idea of the Church, and of 
sacramental grace ; which go to make up our 
teaching as to Baptism and the proper sub- 
jects, who may claim its great benefits. 

Adult converts from infidelity or from 
heathenism must have initial faith ; which is 
the gift of God. The Holy Ghost works this 
in the heart by the preaching of the Gospel. 
First preach the Gospel; then baptize into 
discipleship. Then, brought into the Church 
by Baptism, they are to be taught to do all 
things, whatsoever Christ has commanded. 
They are to learn more of Christian truth 
and duty ; and are thus enabled to learn and 
to do the will of God. Acts xviii. 26. 

While all admit that those adults who are 
willing to become disciples of Jesus, are en- 
titled to the sealing ordinance of Baptism ; 
there are those who disregard the organic re- 
lation existing between parents and their off- 
spring. Thy seed after thee, is always included 
in God's promised covenant blessings. 



250 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Our Catechism lays hold upon this, and 
teaches that infants are also to be baptized. 
And the Reformed Church stands firmly to 
this offer of the covenant, and practices the 
custom of Household Baptism. This custom 
can only be held in honor consistently, where 
there is a proper idea of baptismal grace, in 
the churchly view of the divine covenant. 

As there can be no meaning in infant Bap- 
tism, where the Sacrament has no grace-bear- 
ing power, and therefore leaves the unconscious 
subject in no better condition than it is by na- 
ture, the whole sacred custom soon runs into 
a mere form, a sham, useless ceremony — and 
is therefore easily neglected and set aside. 

Just in proportion, however, as the old 
churchly and sacramental doctrine of Bap- 
tism comes to prevail, will the practice of In- 
fant Baptism be consistently kept up. It 
leads, of course, to the whole idea of Infant 
Church-membership : to their birthright pri- 
vileges in the covenant of grace ; and the 
broad difference between the baptized and the 
uncovenanted world. What is valued, is 
claimed and cherished, more than a worthless, 
empty, dead form. 

Our Reformed Church stands, therefore, in 
harmony with Catholic Christianity as to 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



2 5 I 



Baptism. We consistently hold our faith and 
practice here in unison with the "commu- 
nion of saints who, for well nigh two thou- 
sand years, in many millions of souls, bear 
united witness to this Scriptural and Apos- 
tolic doctrine and practice of Baptism. Over 
against all this, stand a few hundred thou- 
sand heretics in the eddies of history ; and es- 
pecially, for the last three hundred years, is 
heard the protest of the Baptistic sects, now 
numbering perhaps, one million and a half. 
But however strong these may seem among 
us, they are after all, but a very "wee" pro- 
portion, as compared with the two hundred 
millions of Christians, who adhere to the old 
Church doctrine and practice as handed down 
from the Apostles. 

With the plain and positive teachings of 
the Old Testament covenant grace in behalf 
of parents and their children, big and little ; 
and with no word forbidding the continuance 
of this gracious feature in the sacramental ap- 
pointment for the same end in the New Tes- 
tament, but whose whole tenor is in favor of 
the same ; and with the recorded testimony of 
the Apostolic practice, of receiving ichole 
households, by Baptism into the Christian 
Church ; and with the uninterrupted custom 



252 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



of the Church in the same order of grace, 
through centuries of history ; with all this, 
we need not be disturbed in our faith and 
practice of Baptism, by presumptuous and 
unchurchiy, unsacramental modern sects. Our 
foundation is a rock like a mountain, and com- 
pared with which, theirs is a sand-heap. 
Though they pile it up grain by grain, yet 
will it not stand firm and sure. 

If Jesus were to administer Baptism with 
His own hands, to children as well as to 
others, then the modern rationalists would 
own it to be right and beneficial. But 
what He commands and authorizes to be clone 
by another, is really done by Himself. Does 
He not, therefore, receive little children and 
bless them in Holy Baptism ? Men are apt 
to forget that His presence is ever in the 
Church, and in the Sacraments of the Church, 
and by the Holy Ghost, in the official acts of 
His ministers sent in His name and clothed 
with His power, as to their official functions. 

False spiritualism wants to find all this, not 
in the Church and Sacraments, but outside of 
the Christian system established by our Lord. 
It aims falsely, of course, always to give some- 
thing better than the Church, more real than 
the Sacraments, more edifying than regular 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 



253 



worship, and more official than the ministerial 
acts of God's ordained servants. This is in 
fact to set aside God's whole order of grace, 
without showing, by miracle or equal testi- 
mony, any authority for so doing. 

We p refer God's word, to these modern 
new-lights. His covenant with Abraham, in- 
cluding infants, He renews and confirms in 
Christ, (Gal. iii. 15 — 17) ; so that it con- 
tinues in Baptism, what it was in Circumcision. 
Since, in Holy Baptism, in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost ; the Father adopts and loves, the Son 
offers efficacious sacrifice, and the Holy Ghost 
renews, sanctifies and comforts ; it follows 
that so long as the baptized child is in the 
Christian covenant, all this is pledged, for 
fulfilment, in the same degree that the child 
grows in knowledge and exercise of faith. 
And the Church's statistics go to show that 
God owns this 5 in the fact that a much larger 
proportion of baptized children do become 
faithful Christians, than an equal number of 
those who are not in the Covenant by Bap- 
tism. 

For the promise is unto you and your chii- 
dren.-Acts ii. 39. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BAPTIZED CHILDREN IN THE CHURCH.- 

T7E are the children of the prophets and 
J[ of the covenant, which God made with 
our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And 
in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth 
be blessed.-AcTS in. 25. 

That is no vain question, in regard to the 
status of baptized children. It is of the high- 
est practical account. Attention properly 
directed to them cannot be without profit in 
evervview. The wants of the Church and of 
the world, make it necessary to husband all 
available material for the success and prosper- 
ity of the one, and the conversion and salvation 
of the other. The Church should take up the 
rising generation, the children and youth, and 
see that they become regenerated and sancti- 
fied. To this end the Church and her children 
should rightly understand their relations to 
each other. 

Children are, Jiowever, born ignorant of all 
their relations and privileges. They need 



BAPTIZED CHILDREN IN THE CHURCH. 255 



instruction, as to their blessings. Their rela- 
tion to the Church is of great value. Parents 
teach children their relations to their family, 
so the instruction of the Church, their spiritual 
mother, reveals to them their relation to the 
heavenly family. 

As lambs of the flock, they should not be 
allowed to stray from the fold. Fed by the 
Church at her nourishing breast, they must 
drink in her loving spirit of truth. They must 
not be allowed to be carried to and fro by 
every wind of doctrine, but they must be 
trained up in the fear and nurture of the 
Lord. 

In point of fact, we find the whole subject, 
with all its heavenly and blessed surroundings, 
for the most part treated with gross neglect 
and unconcern. Incorrect and vasjue notions 
generally prevail in regard to "the relation 
of baptized, but unconfirmed persons to the 
Church." Ministers and church officers, pa- 
rents and children, all have been under the 
influence of false teaching so long and so gen- 
erally, that the heresy is most wide-spread. 
Thousands of the baptized youth are living, 
as if they were on a par only with the un- 
covenanted world. They regard themselves, 
and are regarded by others, as not belonging 



256 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



in any proper sense to the Church. Satisfied 
with this position, in their ignorance, they 
suppose themselves at full liberty to continue 
openly in sin, as long as they please, or till 
by some gracious miracle they are arrested in 
their rebellious course. 

The children of tne Church, to an alarming 
extent, are lost to her communion. They ne- 
glect the means of grace, are absent from the 
regular services of the Lord's house, refuse to 
hear the teachings of their pastor in the Cate- 
chetical class, and will not be confirmed in 
the faith of their fathers. They make the 
grace of God in the covenant, " of none ef- 
fect," by selling their birthright, for the plea- 
sures of sin for a season. The organic rela- 
tion which God established in His covenant 
with parents and their children, is broken and 
violently set aside ; and another exceptional 
system of man's device is brought in. 

RELATION OF BAPTIZED. 

Baptized, but unconfirmed persons belong to 
the Church. 

Infant Baptism is something already as- 
sumed, as long since settled and in practice. 
The present argument must, however, bring 
us into close contact with the general subject, 



RELATION OF BAPTIZED. 



2 57 



which is more properly called, not infant, but 

Household Baptism. The terms may be used 

indiscriminately, if we remember that the term 
t/ * 

infant, means legally any one under full age. 

The promise is unto you and to your chil- 
dren, because ye are '-'the children of the cov- 
enant which God made with our fathers." We 
have here two conditions in the proposition 
before us ; one is divine, the other is human. 
Thev hold an organic relation to each other. 
One side is " the promise,"' or " Covenant/' the 
other is " you and your children, — ye children 
of the covenant." 

In Christian terms, the one is the Church, 
the other is the membership. The Church is 
the divine order, the bearer of heavenly grace 

* J o 

for lost mankind. The subjects of saving grace 
are to stand in visible, as well as living, organic 
union with the Church. If we can apprehend 
these two sides in their right relations, it will 
be no hard matter to determine the relation 
of those in grace by this Sacrament; for unto 
them also is the promise made. 

Our Heavenly Father, the God and Father 
of Jesus Christ, has not left us orphans, even 
in this world. Here we have the Church to 
be the "mother of us all." In her we are 
new born or regenerate ; at her loving breast 

29 * 



258 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

we are fed and nourished ; by her authority, 
also, we are governed and ruled ; and by her 
Spirit we are finally to be sanctified and glo- 
rified. 

This supernatural order comes to ruined 
man with all the necessary means of salvation. 
Nothing is wanting from the beginning, till in 
triumph, the subject of grace receives the crown 
of everlasting life. The mother is a true moth- 
er, proving her character in every purpose of 
her life. There is a sign and seal for birth, its 
contents and consequences. No less, also, is 
there provision for nourishment and growth, 
for instruction and government, for sanctifica- 
tion and Christian holiness. 

The Church, as the spiritual mother, is the 
outward and ordinary manifestation of the 
Saviour s presence in the world, through the 
Holy Ghost, for saving sinners. As Prophet, 
Priest, and King, He comes to instruct in the 
revealed truth ; to sanctify by the blood of 
sprinkling ; and by mysterious love to rule, the 
redeemed of the Lord. His body, the Church, 
offers a way of approach to, and of real con- 
tact with Him, through her ordinances. Among 
these, the first is Baptism. It initiates into 
membership in the Christian Church. 

Baptism does not create the promise, does 



THEY ARE MEMBERS. 259 

not originate the covenant, but it does give, in 
an objective way, the sign and seal of the grace 
of God. This grace, at the first as on God's 
part, is something outside of man, and sepa- 
rate from his personal life. It is something 
general, as to its objective existence. But the 
promises of the covenant, which guarantee it 
unto him, are first visibly signed and sealed in 
Holy Baptism. This is in the keeping of the 
Church, by whom it is to be administered, and 
so used in making all nations disciples. Those 
already in the covenant, and their children, 
are entitled to its benefits. 

THEY ARE MEMBERS. 

God's blessings of the promises are conveyed 
by the organic nature of the covenant "to 
you and to your children." The Baptism of 
Households, being in full accord with the 
promise and the covenant, introduces all its 
subjects into the visible folds of the order of 
grace. Thus we must be led to see that all 
baptized members of the household* infants as well 
as adults, are by virtue of this sacramental trans- 
action, members of the Church. 

In the Sacrament, the promise is not only 
made and visibly extended, but also signed 
and sealed. The subject baptized, whether 



26o CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

child or adult, is claimed on the part of the 
Church by her minister, for God. In His 
name is that soul received formally into the 
covenant, which only existed objectively be- 
fore. It thus becomes an act of deep and real 
meaning, and is not, as commonly taught, only 
an empty sign. The subject receiving Bap- 
tism, is put into a new relation not existing 
before the transaction. 

Who will profanely say, there is no blessing 
bestowed either actually or by possibility, 
along with the rightly administered, and re- 
ceived sign and seal of God's grace ? On the 
part of God, represented by the official func- 
tions of the Church and her minister, there is 
provided in Baptism for the subject, the real 
benefits of the promise and blessings of the 
covenant. 

The sign and seal represents the invisible 
spiritual grace, which is real, not a fictitious 
sham merely. Thus the arms cf God's elective 
grace are thrown visibly around the subject, 
who is now really enfolded within what was be- 
yond actual reach before, but is now made one 
with the subject. It is " not only for the sol- 
emn admission of the party baptized into the 
visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign 
and seal of the covenant grace, of his ingraft- 



THEY ARE MEMBERS. 



ing into Christ, of regeneration, of remission 
of sins." — Westminster Confession. 

" It is a sign and seal of regeneration or new 
birth, whereby as an instrument, they that re- 
ceive Baptism rightly are grafted into the 
Church ; the promises of forgiveness of sin, 
and of our adoption to be the sons of God by 
the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed." 
(Epis. 39 Articles.) Infants "must therefore, 
by Baptism, as a sign of the covenant, be also 
Admitted into the Christian Church ; and be 
distinguished from the children of infidels, as 
was done in the old covenant or testament 
by circumcision, instead of which Baptism was 
instituted in the new covenant." — Heid. Cat. 

Children baptized are made lambs of the 
flock, are in the Church, are heirs of the cov- 
enant of promise and are visibly signed and 
sealed to be members of the mystical body of 
Christ. The full meaning of the holy trans- 
action may not always be realized, and its last 
result may not in every case be reached. It is 
not completed by objective power, acting 
magically upon the spul of the child. Baptis- 
mal grace, whatever be its full significance, is 
not completed in the act of Baptism itself. If 
left in the condition in which it finds the un- 
conscious subject, its vital germ will most 
probably wither and die ; or at least it must 



262 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



inevitably remain unfruitful, like seed sown 
where it has not proper soil, moisture, light 
and heat in which to germinate. 

The new birth thus secured in possibility, as 
the tree in the acorn, may not come in every 
case, for the want of necessary conditions, to a 
full growth of self-conscious, Christian life. 
If Baptism, in the sense of our symbols, be ac- 
cording to the Scriptures the sign and soal, or 
the Sacrament of the new birth, as it is afford- 
ed to the children of the covenant, it must 
have a real meaning, in some proper sense, as 
broad as the wants of their spiritual life. The 
spiritual import and benefit of Baptism, is not 
already existing at the time of the transaction 
in the subject baptized, but is brought to it 
from God in the sign and seal. 

THE FORCE OF THIS RELATION. 

Great wrong is done to the baptized chil- 
dren of the Church, when they are so neglected, 
that by their ungodly lives they too often for- 
feit the grace of their Baptism. By allowing 
them to remain ignorant of the blessings se- 
cured to them in this heavenly birthright, they 
lose its benefits. The Church must come to a 
fuller sense of their organic relation to the mys- 
tical body. We must not regard them or allow 



THE FORCE OF THIS RELATION. 



them to regard themselves as in no better con- 
dition, or no more favorably circumstanced 
for salvation, than the nncovenanted world. 
They are more highly privileged than children 
of heathen or infidels ; else were they unclean, 
but now are they holy. Let not, therefore, 
the grace of God become to them, through our 
unbelief or their own carnal hearts, of "none 
effect." The lambs of Christ's flock oudit not to 
be lost to the Good Shepherd, merely because of 
their ignorance of their relation to the fold. 
The silly sheep in the parable was lost because 
it strayed away, not knowing that it had a 
shepherd, and that it belonged to the flock. 

Baptized children are dedicated to the ser- 
vice of God, as effectually as Hannah dedicated 
her Samuel. God lays His hand upon them in 
the holy rite, and claims them for His own. 
They are His children, and are in the Ark of 
safety. In this covenant of promise they must 
be regarded as in so far, rightly placed to re- 
ceive all the rich blessings of His grace, com- 
pleted finally in the salvation of the soul. The 
election of His mercy has enfolded them in its 
arms. They are in no sense on a level with 
the ungodly, who being unbaptized have no 
right to the joys or promises of the Church. 
Birthright privilege to the ordinances of the 



264 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



visible Church, is the rich inheritance of the 
baptized youth. 

The meaning of the relation between the 
Church and her baptized children comes out 
when its claims are reciprocally satisfied. Nur- 
ture and training in the principles of the Gos- 
pel must be offered by the Church, and re- 
ceived by the children of the covenant, in 
order to their mutual well-being. 

If Baptism is the implanting of divine 
grace, a careful inculcation of the import of 
this truth, should be secured by the Church 
for the young, as they grow up. If they are 
planted in the garden of the Lord, there are 
certain conditions to be secured before we may 
rightly expect them to flourish in the courts 
of our' God. 

Children baptized are no longer children of 
the devil, and are delivered formally from his 
power. They belong to another order, and are 
heirs of a totally different kingdom. They 
are, then, to be trained up in the way they 
should go ; in the fear, and nurture, and ad- 
monition of the Lord. By a law of our human 
life which we cannot annul, tliQy will, then, 
grow in grace, will be rooted and established 
in the faith, and will then finally come more 
and more into a knowledge of the true God 



CHRISTIAN NURTURE DEMANDED. 265 

and His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, which 
is eternal life. 

This is God's plan of grace, as established 
and ordered in the Bible ; and it seems to be 
the best and safest in seeking salvation for our 
children. Let the infidelity of the age say 
what it will, nevertheless the promise of God 
is sure. If the Church rest on that, she can 
save her children and convert the world. Wa- 
ter and the Spirit is the Baptism of regenera- 
tion, or the sign and seal of the new birth. 
Water and the Holy Ghost do sign and seal, 
cleanse and regenerate. The one, man applies; 
the other, God gives. Baptized children, mem- 
bers of the visible Church, are within the scope 
of the covenant, and, by virtue of this election, 
entitled to all its rich benefits. 

CHRJSTIAN NURTURE DEMANDED. 

This implies family religion. The organic 
relation of the child to the family, and 
through the family to the Kingdom of grace, 
demands Christian nurture for all the sub- 
jects of Baptism. "Make disciples of all na- 
tions, by baptizing them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost after which comes the further order 
as to their treatment, " Teaching them to ob~ 

23 



266 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



serve all things whatsoever I have command- 
ed you ; and lo, I am with you always, even 
unto the end of the world." 

The purpose of His presence, is to give ef- 
fect to the conditions of discipleship, as con- 
ferred in Baptism, and especially to accompa- 
ny their " teaching them to observe all things/' 
Religious training in the family is a part and 
parcel of the Covenant grace of God. In no 
other view, has religious instruction any force 
or meaning ; and hence all false systems na- 
turally enough allow this to fall, in to open 
neglect and contempt. 

In all the wrong and one-sided views, which 
mechanical notions of the Kingdom of heaven 
propagate and practise, Christian Nurture is a 
foreign and unwelcome element. 

The child though baptized is for these false 
systems, still no better than any other ; is yet 
a child of wrath, belonging not to God, but 
to the domain of the devil, until by some 
magical power, a sudden conversion takes 
place. All this, we hesitate not to say, is 
hostile to the main interests of the Church, 
and seriously detrimental to the children of 
the covenant. 

The popular teaching of the day is plainly 
wrong on this point. It is a rank heresy to 



CHRISTIAN NURTURE DEMANDED. 



267 



say, that Baptism does not alter the relation 
of children who receive in this Holy Sacra- 
ment the sign and seal of God's grace; or, that 
the unbaptized are as fully out of the devil's 
power, as the baptized. A wide distinction is 
made by the teachings of the Apostles, be- 
tween the baptized children of the believers, 
and the unbaptized children of unbelievers, 
heathens and infidels. In the present time, 
this distinction is removed, and all children, 
who have not been suddenly converted in the 
peculiar modern sense of that word, wh ether 
baptized or unbaptized, are regarded alike in 
relation to grace. The children themselves 
are taught to regard themselves as no better 
for their baptismal relations. All such popu- 
lar sentiments, are seriously damaging the 
young, and thus militate against the welfare 
of the lambs of the flock. 

That is a spurious nurture, which teaches 
them to believe that baptized members of the 
Church, equally with the uncovenanted world, 
must grow up as enemies to God and strangers 
to the commonwealth of grace, until perchance 
some spiritual power in a magical way, arrests 
them in their sinful course. It is not true 
that they may live in rebellion, like heathens 
or even something worse, until by a sudden 



268 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



mechanical change they are converted, when 
they may now for the first time, properly 
"join the Church !" 

Christian nurture belongs to an entirely 
different system. Religious instruction in the 
family and publicly, by the teaching power of 
the Church, is of grace. "Thy seed after 
thee," is to be taught to know its relation to 
the promise, and is to be so trained as to 
reap the reward. In the nurture and ad- 
monition of the Lord, they may be expected 
to grow in grace. 

The grace sealed unto them in Baptism, 
ought to be developed in a regular growth, 
till it reach the full measure of the stature of 
a man in Christ. If they were more steadily 
taught, we would not sit and wait as do many, 
for sudden conversions from among the young 
of the Church. Nor would there be such a 
mournful few of the children of the Church 
in her holy communion, nor so many lost to 
her arms of love. u Obedience to the faith " 
ought to be the normal result of the im- 
planted grace of Baptism. And we have every 
reason to believe it would be more largely go, 
if God's plan, appointed in the nurture of the 
Church, were faithfully observed. 

If grace controls the life, the presumption 



CHRISTIAN NURTURE DEMANDED. 



269 



is in favor of their regeneration. It is wrong 
to induce the baptized members of the Church, 
who have been trained up tinder the gracious 
influences of Christianity to believe that they 
must remain the same as heathen and infidels, 
until a sudden mechanical change in their 
lives, as great as in that of a heathen con- 
vert, affords evidence that they are regene- 
rated. Some are taught that they are unfit, 
to try to love and serve God as members in 
the Church, until they are sanctified wholly, 
or at least attain to almost sinless perfection. 

Catechetical instruction, including the con- 
tents of the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
and the Ten Commandments, if properly in- 
culcated, will develop baptismal grace by 
its own law, into an obedient religious life. 
To know, to fear, to love God and serve Him, 
in Jesus Christ, is obedience to the faith. 

Children who by Baptism are thus in a con- 
dition or state of grace to do this, and who 
thus grow up, ought to be informed of their 
duty and privilege to come to the Lord's Sup- 
per. They will thus profess their faith, rati- 
fy the vows made for them in Baptism, and 
complete it, accepting its conditions in con- 
firmation. 



23* 



2J0 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Has the Church the adequate means to 
meet the wants of her baptized youth? 

THE CHURCH IS THEIR MOTHER. 

Zion is the birthplace of saints. This and 
that man were born in her. Jerusalem is the 
" mother of us all." As we are born in the 
civil state, so also in the Church. The em- 
bryo citizen is in the commonwealth before a 
voluntary consent is obtained for that purpose 
from the newly-born child. At first such a 
citizen in possibility, is born from the family, 
the matrix of the state, and is found then, 
in the bosom of society, developing the same 
kind of life as that from which the life itself 
was produced ; and completes such life only 
under the maturing influences of civil govern- 
ment. 

The child is born also into the Church by 
the grace of God, without obtaining as a ne* 
cessary condition thereto, first, a voluntary 
agreement to the transaction. Regeneration 
is a sovereign act of God, to which He attaches 
outward visible signs and seals. The Church 
receives children on divine authority by Bap- 
tism into her arms, and nourishes them at her 
breast by the revealed truth and grace freely 
given. She governs them by the sweet influ- 



THE CHURCH IS THEIR MOTHER. 2 J I 

ences of divine love, until they become fully 
conscious of the blessing, and voluntarily for 
themselves accept Christ and all His benefits. 

God, in His mysterious grace, has elected 
them to the Birthright, which is pledged to 
believers and to their children. But the priv- 
ileges and blessings of the promise are guaran- 
teed only when this right has been secured 
by the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and for- 
mally claimed in confirmation. Natural birth 
from Christian parents is not membership in 
the Church ; but it gives a right to secure for 
the child Baptism, which does constitute mem- 
bership. In the natural birth from Christian 
parents, grace elects to a covenant right ; but 
in Baptism there is signed and sealed too, the 
covenant grace of the promise. 

Until they are baptized, therefore, even 
though they be the children of believing pa- 
rents, the Church is not properly their mother. 
The Church then owes it to herself, and pa- 
rents owe it to themselves, as well as to their 
children, to see to it, that their seed after them 
be brought to the Baptismal font. It may 
not be neglected innocently by the Church or 
by parents. If it be a blessing to which the 
children of believers have a right, why not se- 
cure it to them ? It puts a broad difference be- 



272 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tween them and the children of heathens and 
infidels. 

By Baptism they are entitled to the means 
of salvation. They have it signed and sealed 
in possession, and therefore may more proba- 
bly, be brought under its influence and into 
its full enjoyment. If we be able by Bap- 
tism to secure for our children such privilege, 
who will say that they should remain unbap- 
tized until on their own responsibility they 
can have it done for themselves ? Those who 
say so, do not act upon that principle in ref- 
erence to any temporal good which, by paren- 
tal interposition, without the child's consent, 
may be secured for them. 

A mother of the right feeling and disposi- 
tion towards her children w^ill engage for them, 
before they can be able to do it for themselves* 
the best good she can secure in their behalf. 
So the Church is not willing to neglect her 
children by permitting them, as some are dis- 
posed to do, to run the gauntlet of experimental 
sin and folly ; in the vain or desperate hope 
that by the "sign and seal" of an " anxious 
bench" excitement, or some other vain human 
plan they may afterwards be converted to 
God, in some chance revival, from the course of 
wickedness and rebellion, in which they were 



MUST BE TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH. 273 



all along trained. It is not limiting their free- 
dom, but really making them free and happy, 
to engage them, though for the time uncon- 
sciously, in covenant with God. " All souls 
are mine/' saith the Lord. 

Born then, into the visible Church, these 
children of the covenant are subjects of her 
teachings, of her mediation, and of her govern- 
ment. As the outward revelation of Christ's 
presence in the world, the Church represents 
the three-fold office of the God-man. The sub- 
jects of Baptism therefore, hold a correspond- 
ing relation to the Church, in each form of His 
official character ; as the prophetical or teach- 
ing power, and as the priestly intercessor, 
and as the kingly, or ruling authority in the 
heart and life. 

MUST BE TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH. 

It does no violence to our conception of the 
Church as a mother, to claim for her the charac- 
ter of a teacher. Rather it is in full harmony 
with the idea of the organic relation existing 
between her and her children. 

The mother is always the first teacher of 
the child. It is her province to inculcate first 
principles and fundamental truths. The 
Church, the ground and pillar of the truth, 



2 74 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



holds first of all the Prophetical office of Christ. 
He came to reveal the truth and teach the 
world lessons of heavenly wisdom. So now 
the mystery of God is revealed and He makes 
known by the Church, the manifold wisdom 
of God. * 

The teaching power of the Church, corres- 
ponding to the office of Christ as The Prophet, 
embraces in the commission the whole world, 
— "make disciples, learners, of all nations — 
teaching them." This being true, her young 
disciples are in the School of Christ, and must 
be taught the truth as it is in Jesus. "Feed 
my lambs," is still the plain duty of the 
Church's Shepherds. These lambs, whatever 
men may say, do belong to Christ's flock. 
He calls them "my lambs," and commits 
them as such, to the care of the Church. 

To Christian nurture then, belongs the teach- 
ing office of the Church. The Baptized youth 
of the Church may not remain in the natural 
ignorance of fallen nature. They must be 
taught by the Church, their relation to the 
kingdom of heaven. Their high privileges are 
to be revealed to them. Their claim to the 
covenant of promise is to be shown them. 
Their difference from the un baptized world, is 



MUST BE TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH. 



2 75 



to be pointed out, as a matter calling for their 
gratitude and love in self-surrendry to God. 

They are to be taught i; the Apostles' doctrine, 
and fellowship, and prayers." The Church 
is to instill in their young minds, a knowl- 
edge of the truth, which they are to receive as 
rightly found only in her keeping. They are 
to consider what Christ has committed to the 
Church, as abundantly sufficient to bring them 
to know, to love, and to obey Him. This is 
the regular way by which, from generation to 
generation, the Church is to propagate the truth. 

Knowledge and faith in children, must be 
supplied with real gracious contents. All 
things necessary to be believed, in order to 
salvation, are found in the Apostles' Creed. 
The sum of Christian truth is here. It must 
be brought to bear on the growing conscious- 
ness of the Child. The child must be taught, 
by a true and safe teacher, what to believe. That 
saves from error. 

Besides the articles of true faith, which are 
found in the Creed, there must be taught 
also the rule of life, or what to do. This we 
have in the law, the commandments of Gocl. 
Children, by the authorized teaching of the 
Church, are to learn how to live. Faith with- 
out works, is dead. Hence they must learn 



276 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



how to regulate their acts in good works, in 
reference to God, to their fellow-men, and to 
themselves. This three-fold form of duty can 
only be learned properly from God's appointed 
teacher, the Church. After the promise, comes 
the Law; so Faith, in the Creed, comes before 
the commandments. 

This law evangelically leads into fellowship 
or communion. The last dying command of 
our Lord and Saviour can only be fulfilled in 
this way. 

Another phase of teaching, the Church owes 
to her children. She must teach them to pray, 
to worship God aright. A child's life is not 
complete without prayer. Gross wrong is done 
the baptized members of the Church when 
they are neglected in this part of their train- 
ing. It is not wrong to teach children prayers, 
though many neglect it on the plea, that they 
must learn it spiritually for themselves. If 
John the Baptist's example was used without 
rebuke by the disciples of our Lord, in their 
request that He should teach them to pray, 
the practice has divine authority. The Church 
then has the right to provide prayers for her 
disciples, especially her baptized youth, so 
that they may learn rightly to worship God in 
spirit and in truth. 



INTERCESSION AND MEDIATION. 277 

All this we have in our excellent Heidel- 
berg Catechism, which is based on the Bible, 
and set forth in the Apostles Creed, the Ten 
Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. 

In our Catechetical System, we find the full 
meaning of the teaching power or prophetical 
office of the Church, brought to bear upon her 
baptized membership. In proportion as that is 
held in honor, has our Church been found 
to grow regularly strong in faith, in knowledge 
and in godliness. And on the other hand, 
where this is measurably lost sight of, it is 
found in direct proportion, that fanatical wild- 
fire, irregular life, if not ultimate death, or at 
least spasmodic action prevails. Christ's Holy 
Sacramental System in its organic operations 
is the best. 

Before even the adult world can be made 
partakers in full of the blessed truths taught 
by the Church, they must first become disci- 
ples, disposed to receive the kingdom of heaven 
as a little child. After that, they are to be 
taught "to observe all things." Much more 
this relation holds in the case of the children 
of the covenant, received formally by Bap- 
tism. 

INTERCESSION AND MEDIATION. 

The Baptized need the Church's Mediation 
24 



278 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



and Intercession, in order to their Sanctificar 
tion. 

The Mediator of the New Covenant must 
ever stand between God and the sinner. Our 
Redeemer has left His human side present in 
the Church, which is thus turned towards 
poor sinners, while His divine nature joins 
them in the spirit to God. For the sake of 
Christ's mystical body, the Church, all bless- 
ings are bestowed upon men. We do not 
need saints between us and God. Christ's 
human nature is between us and the Father. 
He is approached in the Sacraments of the 
Church. 

Through her ordinances and worship, the 
human is joined by the Holy Spirit's power, 
to the divine. In these are the ordinary 
means of grace to the world lying in sin. But 
only to such as rightly use the means thus 
provided. The intercessory and mediatorial 
character, a continuation of Christ's presence, 
is in the Church. In her functional power is 
the priestly office of our Saviour. The Church 
outwardly bestows her Sacraments, in which 
all her worship centres. Without this the 
child could not even be baptized, nor brought 
to Christ. No one can come to Him without 
the grace-bearing means. Much more then, 



INTERCESSION AND MEDIATION. 



279 



being received as members, is it her province 
to secure their growth in grace and entire 
sanctification. The worship and communion 
of the Lord is, therefore, necessary to the 
baptized youth, needing spiritual edification. 
This is able to bind them by a real power, to 
the unseen world. 

Private instruction will not meet their 
wants fully. Nor will Sunday-schools in the 
best conducted modern way, be able to take 
the place for children, of divine service in the 
public sanctuary. Children ought to be found 
in the Church, uniting in the i: supplications 
and prayers" and the songs of praise of the 
sanctuary. Standing in perishing need of 
mediation and intercession, they ought to be 
brought in Confirmation by the Church, to 
complete the baptismal contract ; and enter 
into full communion and fellowship. Having 
been taught the way of salvation they must 
continue therein, that the grace of God be 
made effectual. 

The offer of salvation is to be made, with 
power and authority to make it sure. For- 
giveness of sins must be declared in the name 
of Christ by the priestly voice of the Church, 
so that her baptized membership may feel as- 
sured of a right claim to everlasting life. No 



280 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



man can know this until it is made sure by 
the authority of the Word of God. Let the 
children of the Church come fully to feel that 
their birthright is real, and that the voice 
that informs them of its value has the right 
to make it available unto them ; and we may 
see them more generally claiming its great 
privileges. 

BAPTIZED NEED GOVERNING. 

Christ is also King. Having become head 
over all things to the Church, His authority 
is here outwardly represented. The mother 
is also the first ruler and governor of the 
child. The relation of baptized members to 
the Church requires, therefore, her discipline. 

Church authority has become for many an 
unreal phantom. The shadow of it, which 
still remains, does not indicate much "power, 
of the keys." Yet the little we still have, is 
never exercised on the baptized youth, who 
have not as yet voluntarily engaged to sub- 
mit to Christ. He is considered a bold man 
who would at this age of the world, lay claim 
to any disciplinary power by the Church over 
her baptized children. 

The authority of parents "in the Lord" 
represents largely the divine government over 



BAPTIZED NEED GOVERNING. 



children. But in the very nature of the c?*se 
it is implied also that the Church rule them 
in the Lord. They are subject to admoni- 
tions, exhortations, censures, rebukes, suspen- 
sion and excommunication. 

Obeying parents in the Lord, fits them the 
more for obeying the Lord in His Church. 
Household authority prepares them for church 
authority and civil obedience. A direct ex- 
ercise of this authority may not often be need- 
ed violently if the right beginning be made. 
Children who have been well trained in the 
family will most probably require but little 
ruling to come freely to obey the Church. 

Duties resting upon them require them to 
become obedient to the faith. They should 
freely submit to religious teaching by parents 
and Pastor ; should regularly read the Bible ; 
should devoutly go to the sanctuary services 
and heartily engage in them ; should indus- 
triously and diligently study the teachings of 
the Catechism and attend the lectures of the 
Pastor's class ; should be led to sincere repen- 
tance for sin and renunciation of it ; should 
gladly receive the rite of confirmation in the 
faith of the fathers, and thus witness a good 
profession. All this freely and heartily done 
by faith, is vital piety and godliness. It is 

24* 



282 



CREED AND CUSTOMS, 



true religion. The Christian nurture of our 
Catechism, which aims at, and in most cases 
secures such results, can not be far wrong. 
Other systems, most signally fall short, and 
promise nothing but uncertainty. 

The system, however, to be true to itself, re- 
quires that it have some power to enforce these 
conditions, if they be not voluntarily fulfilled, 
or in case of sinful refusal to inflict whole- 
some discipline. The training of children by 
parents must always reach this end, if it be 
done in the Lord. It is most absolutely true, 
that if a child be trained up in the way he 
should go, he will go in it. But if allowed to 
go in the way he would, his depraved nature, 
unsanctified by Christian grace and nurture, 
leads him wrong. 

Healthy and proper sentiment on this point 
would save many lambs of the flock, by 
bringing them, at an early age, to seek Con- 
firmation. Because of the popular opinion, 
that baptized members are not members un- 
der the disciplinary care of the Church, many 
think they can continue to commit sins that 
would not be allowed to them, if in full com- 
munion. 

Youthful follies and sins must not be in- 
dulged in. Vicious tastes and corrupt habits, 



BAPTIZED NEED GOVERNING. 



bind them hand and foot, led by Satan, captive 
at his will. For these lamentable results pa- 
rents and the Church are measurably responsi- 
ble. Governed aright, they in the end will 
feel and think and act, with real pleasure, in 
obeying the truth. If the truth make them 
free, they are free indeed. 

They should be known by the Pastor and 
Church officers. It is, too, of great importance, 
that the Church keep a correct registry of this 
part of her membership. 

Until they voluntarily break the covenant, 
they have a part and lot with us in the blessings 
of the promise. Only when they will not profit 
by the faithful teaching, worship and ruling 
of the Church, do they forfeit their Baptismal 
grace. But if all this produces its legitimate 
results, they shall be saved, for it is God's 
plan appointed for that purpose. 

The Apostles, in different Epistles, thus con- 
sider and write to children. What rich bless- 
ings would abound, if only the Church, minis- 
ters, parents, and children come to feel aright, 
their relations to the grace of God, through 
our Lord Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER it. 



CHRISTIAN NURTURE. 

CATECHISING the baptized is the plainest 
duty the Church owes to her children. 
"Feed my lambs!" was one of the direct 
commands Jesus gave to His under shepherds. 
The children of the Church, the lambs of the 
flock, are entitled to care and nurture. The 
duty of bringing the baptized youth under the 
saving teachings of religious truth, is too plain 
to need any formal argument. 

Lambs do belong to the flock; and the 
baptized children and youth are members of 
the Church. Hence they must be trained 
in, not into, the Church, "in the fear, 
and nurture, and admonition of the Lord." 
The Abrahamic covenant required the chil- 
dren to be carefully instructed as to its mean- 
ing ; so that they would learn their advantage 
in the birthright to grace, and in due time 
claim its benefits. 

Nor did the Christian Church of early times 
284 



TEACHING THE CATECHISM. 



285 



fail to lay hold of this same principle ; not only 
in claiming the children as her own in Bap- 
tism, but also in nurturing them faithfully in 
the divine order of grace. At the time of the 
Reformation, new interest was given to this 
work; and in that Age of Catechisms, this 
custom of the Primitive Church was revived 
and reinstated with increased honor and effi- 
ciency. In this work the Reformed Church, 
from the beginning, as she does now, took a 
marked and leading part. 

Our Reformed Church is above all, the 
Church of the Catechism. It is especially dis- 
tinguished in this : that her Catechism is her 
confession, while others teach a catechism apart 
from their creed, and to which it does not in 
all respects fully conform. In no other church, 
therefore, has this Primitive and Reformed 
custom been more faithfully kept alive. In 
this country, for instance, where nearly all 
others had given way to the Anxious Bench 
system, which years ago took the place of cat- 
echizing, she almost alone remained faithful, 
though even herself not entirely unmoved and 
unshaken. 

TEACHING THE CATECHISM. 

From what has already been given, in re- 



286 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



ference to the efforts of tlie Pious Elector, 
Frederick III., to introduce and use the Heid- 
elberg Catechism, it will be seen how impor- 
tant a place the duty of instructing the young 
always held in our Church. The schoolmas- 
ter was to require of children that they learn 
their Catechism by heart. The Pastor was to 
teach it to all; in regular sermons weekly, 
and in lectures, examinations, and in all other 
ways possible to make it a living power. 

The system adopted for teaching the Cate- 
chism was most thorough. Family instruction 
and parental care prepared the children for the 
week-day school ; and this in turn, was care- 
ful to fit them for the catechetical teachings of 
the Pastor, who was bound to make constant 
account of the Catechism, year by year. The 
higher schools and colleges also taught the 
more systematic doctrines of the Catechism; 
so that there was a continual preparation of 
men fitted to become the teachers and Pastors 
of the people, and especially of the children. 

Swiss Reformers were, however, in advance 
of those of Germany in the formation of Cat- 
echisms, and in the introduction of regular cat- 
echization. In 1527, the Canton, St. Gall, 
required the Catechism to be explained every 
Sunday afternoon at three o'clock, instead of 



TEACHING THE CATECHISM. 



287 



the Vesper service. A few years later, (1532,) 
the Synod of the Canton of Bern ordered that 
the youth should be instructed out of the -'sev- 
eral little books" which explained the Creed 
and the Lord's Prayer ; and to this end also 
passages of Scripture were to be used as proofs, 
so that they learn to love and fear God through 
Jesus Christ. 

Pastors act most wisely, says the Swiss 
Church Confession prepared in Basel, 1536, 
" who early and diligently catechize the youth, 
early lay the foundation of faith in their 
minds, teaching them the first principles of 
our religion, explaining to them the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, 
the design of the Sacraments, besides the 
other principal matters pertaining to religion. 
The Church will show its faithfulness and di- 
ligence, in holding the children closely to the 
Catechism, and will desire to have its children 
instructed." 

Zurich held catechize every Saturday, and 
every fourth week on Sunday. It is said, 
that these meetings were "largely attended 
by the people of all ages and stations." 

In Schaflhausen, the Catechism was also 
explained every Sunday afternoon, in the ser- 
mon. The scholars also repeated the ques- 



288 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tions publicly, and explained what the cate^ 
chist had taught them ; and they were then 
exhorted in regard to what they had learned. 
Their love for this kind of teaching, at once 
hailed the Catechism of the Palatinate as the 
best hand-book they could use. It was, 
therefore, soon at home among all the Swiss 
churches. 

Very young or ignorant persons were mere- 
ly taught, in easy dialogues, the doctrines of 
the Christian faith ; then a small Catechism 
containing the principal truths, for those able 
to learn them ; and after this the full lan- 
guage of the Catechism, and last of all, they 
who were more advanced analyzed the teach- 
ing of the Catechism and proved the points by 
Scripture texts. Year after year, the doc- 
trines of our holy religion were thus repeated 
in gradually higher and fuller teachings, till 
the truth was firmly lodged in the heart. 

PARENTAL CARE. 

Duty to all this, lies in the nature of the 
Baptismal covenant. It entitles to such nur- 
ture as will insure the full benefits of the 
Gospel grace. The Church receiving the 
child, represents the faith of the whole "Com- 
munion of Saints and gives the baptized 



PARENTAL CARE. 



289 



infant back, for the present, to the parents or 
sponsor, with the charge : Eaise this child for 
me, and return this trust at the proper time, 
and you shall have your reward. 

Parents then, in this solemn trust, are the 
first religious teachers of the child. Baptis- 
mal grace is to be nurtured into a fuller life, 
so as to become more* than mere possibility — 
a real life-power of Christianity. In the fa- 
mily, the first rudiments of religious truth 
reach the child, wake up and quicken grace. 
This then, is to be called into active energy ; 
by pious example, exhortation, family devo- 
tion, reading the AYord, hearing it preached, 
and, explanations by parents, reduced to the 
capacity of the child, all in harmony with the 
spirit of the Catechism. 

No violence is thus done to the initial grace 
of God, which the Holy Ghost implants — as 
the germ of a seed, which is of divine crea- 
tion. Nurture, by which we mean, the whole 
life, surroundings of the family, the atmos- 
phere and soil of the child's being, influences 
and conditions, the growing spiritual life of 
the child. If the nurture be Christian, if it 
be k ' ; in the admonition of the Lord,'' that life 
will be Christ-like. Fidelity here would, as 
surely as God is true, save many of the young 

25 



290 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



from the world's broad domain of sin and ini- 
quity. 

How many children, entrusted by the 
Church to the family, for early training,, are 
so neglected that they are never returned, to 
be catechized and confirmed ? This is a fear- 
ful unfaithfulness. And God will call them 
to account for it. Wha^ right have they to 
bring them to Baptism, and then make no ac- 
count of the sacramental relation afterwards? 

CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 

Christian schools should next receive the 
child. As the mother weans her offspring, 
but does not yet cast it forth from her home, 
so the first years of family training pass over 
measurably, and give place to the school. It 
is exceedingly important that this do not neu- 
tralize nor destroy the pious life of family 
training already begun ; but only take it up 
into a higher and freer form. The whole at- 
mosphere of the school ought, then, certainly 
not be hostile to the germinal grace of Baptism; 
but it ought rather to continue the nurturing 
conditions of the family in the soul of the child. 

Schools ought not, therefore, be without the 
light of the divine Truth; nor without the 
warmth of the gracious Word; nor without 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. 



29I 



the bedewing power of the quickening Spirit. 
Cold, chill, irreligious, godless schools are un- 
churehly, ungracious, and whatever else they 
may have, if they lack the power of aiding 
Christian nurture, they are in so far defective. 
Oar fathers, with all their poverty and want 
of science, managed to have the school-house 
near the Church, and made it aid in the reli- 
gious training of the youth. And it bore good 
fruit ; the young were all, with perhaps here 
and there rare exceptions, brought into the 
Church by confirmation. 

Every schoolmaster was expected to prepare 
the youth in the doctrines of the Catechism, 
that they could then be profitably catechized 
by the minister before coming to confirmation. 
It was not thought a waste of time to study the 
Catechism in the week-day school; even if it 
was at the expense of some of the many 'olo- 
gies now crowded upon the young. 

Now, however, even in Sunday Schools, it 
is often difficult to maintain the Catechism over 
against negative Question Books ; and the thor- 
ough doctrinal training is not thought neces- 
sary. To begin by ignoring the baptismal 
grace of the child, is not the best way to train 
a generation of Christians. The old custom is 
better. 



292 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Gracious is the state of the baptized mem- 
bers of the Church. The main object of edu- 
cational religion is to awaken and call into 
lively exercise the divine grace at hand in 
them. The Church, therefore, treats them as 
plants " in the garden of the Lord, that shall 
flourish in the courts of our God." Ps. lxxxvi. 

A plant is more in need of nurture, more in 
need of that which shall develop the germinal 
life already in it, than of the operation of a 
mechanical power from without. It is of more 
account, therefore, for the success of Christian 
nurture, that the elements making up its sur- 
roundings and conditions, as soil, and light, 
and warmth, and moisture to the plant, be fa- 
vorable to the gracious life implanted by the 
Holy Spirit, than an outside force of magical 
influence. There is a world-wide difference 
between nurturing a plant in a garden and 
charging an electric battery with galvanism. 

Faith is the gift of God. And if there be 
any grace it is equally from Him. He not only 
promises it to us, but really confers it upon us 
sacramentally. Hence He commands us " to 
believe," that is, exercise that power of faith 
which He gives, and expects us to " grow in 
grace," and make more talents of those He 
commits to us. Can that be a genuine sys- 



PURPOSE OF CATECHIZING. 



293 



tern of religion, which begins outside of God's 
appointed means of grace ? Our fathers be- 
lieved, and have so taught us the Bible truth, 
that God is the < ; Beginner and Finisher of our 
faith;" and that He perfects our salvation 
through the faithful use of His means of grace. 

PURPOSE OF CATECHIZING. 

Hence, Catechizing the baptized, has for its 
object the awakening to lively and fruitful 
growth, the germ of grace sacramentally be- 
stowed upon them ; rather than to wait and 
look for some magical operations of the Holy 
Spirit in some other way. This steady custom 
of our Reformed fathers, yielded blessed fruit 
in making saints and martyrs. 

Teaching the Catechism, was a duty in the 
family, in the parochial schools, and finally in 
the Catechetical class. Besides, the public 
reading of the Catechism, came in course as 
regularly as the weeks rolled around. And 
the preaching, and explaining of the Cate- 
chism to old and young, kept it ever fresh in 
their minds and hearts, to " stir up the grace" 
that was in them. 

" One sermon in the towns every Sunday," 
the Swiss delegates, to the Synod of Dort, say, 
"is catechetical. The Catechism is gone over 

25* 



294 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



once every year, in order that by repeating, it 
may be more deeply fixed in the mind. All 
those who have either been dismissed from the 
schools, or who cannot attend ; such as male 
and female servants, are required to attend the 
Sunday catechetical sermons." 

Saturday evening of each week, they go on 
to say, a catechetical sermon is delivered for 
the benefit of both sexes. Principal religious 
truths are thus presented, as the Command- 
ments, the Christian Creed and the Lord's 
Prayer ; and sometimes the questions in the 
Catechism are explained. On certain Sundays 
they are publicly examined, to know what at- 
tention has been given, and what progress and 
growth they have made in religious know- 
ledge. When, as it sometimes happened, the 
minister had to preach at two or three places 
he alternated his Sunday catechetical sermons. 
In some places, where the people cannot at- 
tend morning and afternoon, he preached a 
short sermon, and then immediately after held 
an exercise in the Catechism ; as well for those 
who teach, as for the children. This also our 
old ministers did in this country. 

Youth and persons of all ages derived bene- 
fit from these lessons. Persons attending had 
their names, ages, and relative progress put 



PURPOSE OF CATECHIZING. 295 

down in a register. Praise and rewards were 
bestowed on those who were diligent and in- 
dustrious in study and attention; while re- 
proofs and civil discipline followed dullness and 
negligence in others. Schools in towns and 
country, provided, besides the regular studies, 
also for instruction in the Catechism, and pray- 
ing and singing. Where public meetings 
could not be held in the church, on Sunday, 
they met in private houses. 

Persons who could not sustain a proper ex- 
amination as to their knowledge, in matters 
of religion, could not obtain license to marry. 
No young persons are admitted to the Holy 
Communion, till they have been examined, 
and it is found that they have right views of 
this holy mystery. Pastors also are required 
to visit the schools, and exert a salutary in- 
fluence by their presence upon teachers and 
pupils. 

French Reformed churches, were no less 
diligent than the Swiss and Germans in usins: 
the Catechism. "The churches are instructed 
to make frequent use of the Catechism, and the 
ministers are enjoined, by simple, definite and 
plain questions and answers to unfold and ex- 
plain it. It is the clear duty of the ministers 
to catechize, each in his own congregation." 



296 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Frequent Sy nodical action enforced this. 
Where the pastor could not attend, a special 
teacher or catechist was appointed to the 
several districts or at least a suitable Eider 
was to catechize the young. 

Holland, or the Dutch Reformed churches 
no less make catechizing a cardinal duty. Here 
also parents as well as the Schoolmaster and 
Pastor, must diligently teach the Catechism. 

GOOD FRUITS. 

Parents who neglected this duty were to be 
reproved by the minister, and, if the case re- 
quired it, censured by the consistory. No 
one could be a schoolmaster, who was not a 
member of the Reformed Church, and of cor- 
rect faith, and led a pious life, and was well 
acquainted with the teachings of the Cate- 
chism. He was sworn to earnestly catechize 
and instruct the youth entrusted to him in the 
fundamentals of the Christian religion. Two 
days in the week were to be given to those ex- 
ercises which were adapted to the capacity of 
the several conditions of the young. 

Here too, the catechetical Sermons, " short 
and made to suit, not only adults, but also the 
youth," were to be preached in the church, 
and, if the ministers were "industrious/' also 



GOOD FRUITS. 297 

in the schools. The customary instructions 
given in the churches, as experience proves, 
were not enough. "The custom proves that 
the living voice has very great power when 
questions and answers are used." The sim- 
pler these are, the better is the mode of cate- 
chizing. In order to a clear and full ac- 
quaintance with the Catechism, the ministers 
or elders are once a week, to teach and ex- 
plain the principal parts of the Christian reli- 
gion. Especially such as are "troubled in re- 
gard to the salvation of their souls" are to be 
invited, to come to these instructions ; not to 
the Anxious Bench. 

Such work, with watchfulness, care, fideli- 
ty, zeal and discretion, "cannot fail in a short 
time, by the blessing of God, to bring forth 
the most abundant fruit." Thus " all men 
will see the progress of faith and holiness of 
life, to the honor of God and the advance- 
ment of Christian religion in general, working 
favor and increase in our churches." 

It is easy to see that this system would 
make the Church firm in the faith, multiply 
saints, and provide the material out of which 
martyrs are made. 

Wherever the Heidelberg Catechism was 
adopted, it seemed to carry with it, the idea 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



of organic Christianity ; which implies Nur- 
ture. In all the German States, as well as in 
Switzerland, France and Holland, the spirit 
of catechizing was awakened. The children 
in the schools, the youth and adults in the 
Church, were all catechized in the doctrines of 
the Christian religion. 

The Synod of Wesel, 1568, ordered the 
Heidelberg Catechism to be so used for the 
churches and schools. Later, they required 
" the Apostolic practice of catechizing," to be 
brought into those churches and schools, 
where it was not as yet in use. Parents are 
admonished not only to see to it that their 
children attend to this duty, but to encourage 
them by example. And Pastors and Elders, 
in their visits, at least once a year, before the 
Lord's Supper, are to exhort them to attend 
to this duty. 

So in Hungary and Hesse, and in the free 
cities of Germany. Under Martin Bucer and 
Peter Martyr, the Church of England also en- 
tered upon the same custom of catechizing 
the young, not only before confirmation, but 
also afterwards. 

Presbyterian churches in England and 
Scotland later received this good custom from 
the example of our Eeformed Church. And 



THE NEW MEASURE HERESY. 



299 



for a long while they made proof of its excel- 
lence ; though now, especially in this coun- 
try, they have sadly fallen away from their 
former zeal and fidelity, in this respect. De- 
fection has been most general, under the in- 
fluence of the rationalism of New England, 
which affects to despise German faith and 
practice. Hopeful evidence of recuperative 
power is not wanting, however, in the church- 
es, which feel the want of this old custom. 

THE NEW MEASURE HERESY. 

Related negatively, to the general custom 
of catechizing, is that other method known 
as the New Measure System. This stands as 
a modern protest over against the historical 
life of the Reformed Church. It claims to 
improve on the educational system of the 
Catechism; inasmuch as it is more " spirit- 
ual," and not " dead and formal," which de- 
fective character is charged upon the time- 
honored old custom. It claims to bring 
sinners direct and first to Christ. 

It is a remarkable fact that Pietism in Ger- 
many began the work of restoring the old 
system of catechizing : while Methodism, 
which claims to be the best sort of vital piety, 



3 oo 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



considers the whole system of Educational 
Religion as formal, lifeless hypocrisy. 

But what is known now as New Measurism, 
or the Anxious Bench System, did not belong 
even to primitive Methodism. It is a heresy 
of very modern date ; or rather, it is one of 
the older, a kin to the Donatists, in a modern 
dress. Every spirit that confesseth not that 
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of 
God. 

A pretension is set up, that the old custom of 
catechizing in the Reformed Church had not 
the vitalizing power of the Holy Ghost in it, 
to call to personal repentance and faith, those 
baptized in infancy. A new principle, they 
claim, must be laid hold of, which "spiritually" 
brings conversion and a religious life from some 
other quarter than that of baptismal grace. 
It claims that the baptized children of the 
Church are not, in virtue of this Sacrament, 
the children of God; and to educate them 
into this notion is to make them formalists and 
hypocrites. The doctrine of the Catechism is, 
they say, for the baptized, only a refuge of 
lies. 

Then a magic regeneration is to come, al- 
together independent of God's sacramental 
covenant. The Spirit's operations are to be^ 



THE NEW MEASURE HERESY. 



301 



found, not in the means of grace, but made by 
some machinery, to touch men from without, 
and convert them. After that, they are fit to 
" join the Church." When this process is re- 
peated, and when the power is multiplied, it is 
called a revival. Then it is with amazing 
coolness claimed, that this is the only system 
that has the revival spirit of religion. Because 
it counts its subjects by twenties or thirties, or 
fifties, or more, it noisily proclaims its success. 
The catechetical classes of thirty, fifty, or 
one hundred or more, confirmed after proper 
instruction in the doctrines of our holy religion, 
are not thought to give evidence of revival ! 

" What is wrought in the way of the Cate- 
chism is considered to be of man ; what is 
wrought by the Bench is taken readily for 
the work of God." It is Pelagian in its whole 
spirit. It starts at some point away from God, 
and brings in a will-worship, which it charac- 
terizes as more spiritual than that which grows 
out of divinely implanted sacramental grace. 

By some process, this system, opposed to 
the steady use of the Catechism, comes to 
assume that it alone has a faithful ministry ; 
that it is the " great power of God" to convert 
sinners; that its protracted meetings are es- 
pecially blessed by the Spirit. In fact that, 

26 



3 02 



CREED AND CUSTOMS 



what does not get through from this world into 
the kingdom of grace, after the manner and 
style of their " experience" has not got true 
religion ! Sudden conversion, they imagine, is 
the best, if not the only kind worth having. 
To be made sure of this, it would rather have 
children grow up in the world, and after they 
sow their wild oats, then gather them by an 
Anxious Bench revival ! 

Little honor is put upon family training, or 
the baptismal relation of the children to the 
Church, and on the Church itself as an order 
of grace. If there is to be any Church at all, 
it is only what they make it ; by converting 
sinners in the world, and then associating 
.these together in a " religious society." To 
them, the Church is not the body of Christ, 
nor the mother of us all, nor clothed with 
divine authority and powers in the commis- 
sion, defining its own heavenly constitution, 
as the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. 

Unfairly this sa,me system charges the old 
custom of catechizing with a want of concern 
for vital godliness. How much wrong is thus 
done, can be seen by any one who has care- 
fully noticed the efforts of ail branches of the 
Reformed Church, to bring the rising genera- 
tion, as well as adults, into the conscious ex- 



THE NEW MEASURE HERESY. 



3°3 



perience of vital religion. It is with us, in 
our system a life-time earnest effort, a con- 
tinuous revival, a steady growth. With the 
other system, a few nights, or at most weeks, 
on special occasions is thought to be better ! 

With them, on extra occasions, the use of 
spasmodic efforts, is supposed to be more effi- 
cacious, than the regular and continuous nur- 
ture of the catechetical system. We use ordi- 
nary, continuous, and united efforts of the fa- 
mily, the school and the Church through the 
whole formative period of life to bring forth 
fruit, from the divine grace sacramentally at 
hand in the baptized. They use special and 
spasmodic efforts, galvanically charged with 
excited sympathy, starting outside of the 
Church to convert souls. 

Catechizing is a part of the means of grace, 
as holding in the Word, to call into real 
exercise conscious faith and penitence, con- 
firmed in the Sacrament already at hand, by 
which the unconscious child has been initia- 
ted into the Church. In the use of these 
means, children are nurtured by the Church 
in divine growth. 

To charge this with being hostile to vital 
godliness, and to deny that it ministers to true 
religion, is to condemn the whole life, not 



3°4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



only of Protestantism, but of the early Church. 
The Anxious-bench system is a most stupend- 
ous presumption ; setting itself up as superior 
to the divine order of the covenant in all past 
ages. 

The Jew child was expected under proper 
parental training, to take his place at the 
right age in the congregation, and celebrate 
the passover. Doing this, he inherited salva- 
tion. No need of a marked conversion in 
that case, as was nevertheless required in the 
case of a heathen who came to Judaism to be 
saved. As the experience of the Jew be- 
came more and more clear and conscious as 
he grew in grace ; so doubtless is it with the 
Christian child. The plant, if nurtured, will 
grow and bear fruit. 

New Measures confound the awakening to 
a sense of the presence of that grace already 
at hand in Baptism, with the beginning of 
grace itself. As though it were something 
just new-born, when in fact this sense of it 
may only be the first conscious knowledge- of 
the divine favor. God loved us all, long be- 
fore we knew it. 

Conversion is an experience, and differs 
from regeneration, whicn is the act of God's 
Spirit, not of our will. When children come 



TESTIMONY OF OUR REFORMED CHURCH. 305 

to a stage of consciousness that they were 
born, is generally long after their birth itself. 
Life was long present and active before they 
knew the fact ; they learn to know of it by 
its powers in them. So grace given of God, 
may apprehend the baptized child, before he 
comes to a consciousness of the fact. The 
Gospel tells of this good news, and then only 
can we know it. 

Birth-throes are more in the experience of 
the parent than in that of the child. So the 
mother may teach the child of its uncon- 
scious life, and thus the Church may remind 
her children of their life that is hid with 
Christ in God, and train them to live it, in all 
holy conversation and godliness. 

TESTIMONY OF OUR REFORMED CHURCH. 

It has fallen to the lot of the Reformed 
Church here, to bear testimony against this 
pretentious spirit of these New Measures. The 
largest portions of American Protestantism had 
given way to the inrolling tide. To lift up a 
standard against the seemingly overwhelming 
power required faith in the Church, and a 
spirit that animated the martyrs. 

Our Church faith met the advancing power, 
and boldly declared that there could be no true 

26* 



3° 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



religious system, however " spiritual" it might 
claim to be, outside of the Christian Church, 
which our Lord Himself established. That in 
this Church are the means of Grace, and the 
Holy Ghost works, through them, faith in the 
hearts of men. Whatever therefore opposed 
the use of the means of grace in the Church, 
as less spiritual than something to be used 
outside, could not be quite right. 

It lays down as a rule, that God does not 
dishonor His own appointed means : and that 
He does not therefore save us by arbitrary will. 
And the Holy Spirit does not act outside and 
apart from the external ordinances of the 
Church. 

New revelations do not come, except they 
have power to authenticate themselves by mir- 
acles. Since God has not made any such new 
revelations, we hold on to the old more sure 
word of prophecy. And that is in full har- 
mony with the Church. The old customs of 
the Fathers, are based on the organic and sac- 
ramental character of grace ; which God has 
seen fit to bestow, and which it is our privilege 
to know and enjoy ; and to secure for our chil- 
dren, and to train them to a self-conscious 
knowledge of the same. 

Receiving the child at Baptism, in Christ's 



TESTIMONY OF OUR REFORMED CHURCH. 307 

name, the Church pledges in its behalf the 
blessings of the covenant, with full powers to 
make these good. The parents receive the 
child back again, with the most solemn charge 
to nurture it in the family and in the school 
until it becomes fit for the Pastor's catechetical 
class, where proper preparation is made for 
confirmation and communion. 

There is nothing unnatural, nor ungracious 
in this ; but it is rather a true life process, of 
growth. Its action is not violent ; its experi- 
ences may not be sudden ; its growth may not 
be convulsive or spasmodic ; but is it any the 
less real, less vital, less spiritual and less Chris- 
tian, for all that ? It is not simply unnatural 
naturalism ; but the natural operations of the 
supernatural grace brought to nature, and 
raising nature into the sphere of the Spirit. 

As our Catechism itself grew out of a proper 
view of covenant mercy and sacramental grace ; 
so the type of our religious life, begotten from 
this reigning spirit of the Catechism, is of the 
same organic character. To this belongs the 
custom of catechizing the baptized in order 
that their baptismal grace becomes real, effec- 
tual, and available to them. The Catechism 
approaches the child as standing in the cov- 
enant, by the elective Providence of birth in 



3 o8 



CREED AND CUST0M3. 



a Christian land, and from Christian parents, 
and, by the fact still more, that the promise 
of redemption and the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
not omy to the parents but to their children 
also, has been signed and sealed to the child 
in Holy Baptism. 

Paul appealed tc Timothy, to stir up the 
grace that was in him, by the laying on of 
hands. The assurance of this is drawn from 
the child piety begotten of his Christian nur- 
ture, received from his mother and grand- 
mother. Similar exhortations may be ad- 
dressed to the baptized youth of the Church 
with the same hope, that the grace that is in 
them by their Baptism and nurture will effect 
their salvation. 

For our faithful testimony to this venerable 
Apostolic custom, the Reformed Church has 
been called to suffer most fierce persecutions. 
During the last quarter of a century, this wit- 
ness for the old ways has brought upon us no 
small measure of reproach. Starting in the 
Anxious Bench controversy, (1840-45,) it has 
passed through ail imaginable and real phases. 

Deadness, formalism, Romanism, heresies of 
various kinds, and other evil things have been 
laid at our door. Those familiar with the his- 
tory of those times need not be told how hard 



TESTIMONY OF OUR REFORMED CHURCH. 309 



was the suffering to be endured for fidelity to 
our original Reformed life. And those who 
may live in happier and more peaceful times 
need not be carried back through those trying 
scenes. 

Right nobly did the Reformed Church stand 
for the practice, and with that, for the faith 
also, of our Reformation inheritance. We 
were not Puritanic, nor Methodistic, nor Bap- 
tistic from the beginning ; and we do not want 
to be so now, nor in the future. Our original 
life, Creed and Customs could not, without 
loss, be narrowed into any one of these ; nor 
could it be made over for us, by mixing all 
these, as to their distinctive parts, into one. 
Over against all these, and every other more 
modern ism, we are ever the Reformed Church. 
Our life, faith, and practices all go together ; 
and they belong to the organic, the sacramen- 
tal, and the churchly ; as contrasting with the 
empiric, the experimental, and individual. 

Christ's Person and life constitute Christian- 
ity. There is, then, something broader and 
deeper than the visible Church, which gives it 
constitution and ground of existence. Unceas- 
ing life of the Incarnate and Glorified Son of 
God, the living Christ, constitutes the Church. 

He gives value and efficacy to the Word and 



3 io 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Sacraments. These are the appointed means 
for saving lost souls. The Church affords these 
through the ordained ministry in the name of 
Jesus Christ. What is needed, then, is that 
they should be made available for sinners. 

This salvation comes from a ground deeper 
than the experience of any mans feeling. It 
comes from the life of Christ, through the 
Church, whose life has milk for babes as well 
as strong meat for maturer growth. The birth 
is in the Church ; not a tendency into it after 
being born from without. It is an implanted, 
divine, and endless life, growing and to be nur- 
tured, not a magnetic galvanism evolved by a 
machine, nor an electric shock flashed on wires 
through the air. 

Our work is not to begin that life ; but to 
foster, cherish, and nurture it into developed 
growth and fruit. On this ground we hold 
steadily to the custom of catechizing the bap- 
tized. Nurture them in the fuller growth of 
their baptismal grace, in a consistent, regular, 
Christian profession. 

THIS CUSTOM IN PRACTICE. 

Christian nurture is found more or less im- 
perfect in the practice of the Church and fam- 
ilies. Fidelity to a principle is not often found 



THIS CUSTOM IN PRACTICE. 



3 11 



in perfection. In proportion as the true idea 
of Christian nurture is reached, will the fruits 
be healthy and saving. " Wherever the sys- 
tem of the Catechism is rightly understood 
and faithfully applied, it may be expected to 
generate revivals/' as " the natural product of 
the proper life of the Church." 

Religion in the family must be at hand, as 
a first condition to true and faithful Christian 
nurture. A pious atmosphere must surround 
the child. Christian principle must control 
the home life of the family in all its parts. 

The u admonition of the Lord," as supple- 
mental to " nurture/' belongs especially to pa- 
rents. (Eph. vi. 4.) How few fathers admon- 
ish their children ! The child must learn di- 
vine truth; must be taught prayers and hymns; 
and must have example added to precept. Faith 
must be called into lively exercise. The pa- 
rent stands at first for the child in the place 
of God ; and in so far to believe, and obey, and 
love the parent, is for the unconscious child to 
do this as towards God. 

Educational Religion, starting in the family 
in our religious nature, as effected by divine 
grace, is carried forward in the school ; which 
must be no less pervaded by a pious, Christian 
atmosphere, and divine light and warmth of 



3 J 2 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



faith and love. This is not only to be looked 
for in the Sunday School, but in the Parochial 
school. Godless schools are no part of Chris- 
tian nurture. Because these make up so much 
of our children's training, may be an obvious 
cause of the defective nurture of our times. 

Pastoral teaching is an important part of 
nurture ; but it is surely not the whole of it. 
In some large pastoral charges the minister 
finds it impossible to keep up the catechetical 
class, year in and year out. The best he can 
do is to hold such classes for from three to six 
months in the year, for each church. These 
short courses are often interrupted, so that all 
is crowded into one or two dozen meetings. 

Worst of all, the evil is made still farther 
to remove the ideal of catechetical training 
from the actual state of things. The minister 
finds that of those who attend his class, the 
greater portion have not been trained aright 
in the school and in the family. They have 
not learned by heart the answers of the Cat- 
echism, and have but a very imperfect know- } 
ledge of the principal truths of the Gospel. 
With such ignorance and imperfection, we can- 
not expect all the good fruits of the old custom 
of Christian nurture. Catechizing is not to be 
tried by these defects, but by its true principle. 

What is lost in the family and in the school 



THIS CUSTOM IN PRACTICE. 



3*3 



can never be made up fully by the Pastor. 
Hence " those can only become strong Chris- 
tians, and come to the full and perfect stature 
of Christ as adults, who in early life have re- 
ceived the sincere milk of the word that they 
may grow thereby. The best and only rem- 
edy to be laid hold of by adults who have been 
neglected in early life, is to humble themselves 
and become as little children, and thus submit 
themselves to the same simple and particular 
catechization, by questions and answers, as 
that provided for children." Persons ignorant 
of the simple truths in the elements of religion, 
must learn them before they can understand 
the preached word. The deepest truths of 
religion can only be received after the first 
principles are learned. 

Best nurtured children make the most reli- 
able and most consistent Christians. Even 
when those trained in the Educational system 
are proselyted into the Methodistic sects, they 
make by the fact of early nurture alone, bet- 
ter members as a class, than those converted 
from the unnurtured world. This fact was 
candidly acknowledged by a Methodist Doctor 
of Divinity, who himself had been brought up 
in our system. It was, he said, " a fact well 
established by long observation. " And hence 

27 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



he is one of those in Methodism now, who are 
trying to yoke catechization with their system. 
If that prevails, their Bench system must go 
down. The two have nothing in common. 
The one excludes the other. 

Failure, where it occurs to make good Chris- 
tians of the baptized youth of the Church 
by nurturing them, has not been a defect 
in the system, but in its application, neg- 
lecting its necessary conditions. Catechetical 
training is something vastly more than a few 
visits to the Pastor s class, before confirm- 
ation. This is only the crowning work of 
the whole system, starting in Infant Bap- 
tism, and running through a childhood and 
youth of careful and prayerful Christian nur- 
ture in the family and in the school, till the 
minister finally confirms them in the promises 
and grace of the Gospel. 

Christian Education in the Church will 
most surely lead to a life of piety, for God's 
word of promise is sure. "Train up a child 
in the way he should go ; and when he is old 
he will not depart from it." It will as na- 
turally produce growth — not into, but in , 
grace, as the body grows, not into, but in life j 
by food and care, and as the mind increases ( 
its faculties, not creates them by culture. 

It is false, therefore, to charge us that we 



FAITHFULNESS. 



3*5 



aim by Educational Religion, to regenerate 
souls. We leave that to God entirely ; and 
seek, in the way He has appointed, and which 
He has for centuries blessed, to awaken to 
personal repentance, and active faith, and 
filial obedience, those children by the grace 
which God offered, pledged, signed and sealed 
in their Baptism. 

FAITHFULNESS. 

Very much depends upon the degree of 
faithfulness with which we meet the condi- 
tions of catechizing the baptized. Where the 
whole life has had its powers called into acti- 
vity faithfully, in the Christian Family, in 
the Parochial School, and in the Catechetical 
Class of the Church ; there, we may hope to 
find active, intelligent, consistent and pious 
church-members. 

But if parents have first failed to train 
their children at home ; and if they have not 
provided them with a Christian education in 
the school ; and fail to send them to the min- 
ister s class ; we may not wonder greatly if 
their children are in the world's service, and 
not ready to fill their places in the Church. 
God is true, but man fails. Let not God, and 
His plan of grace, therefore, suffer reproach, 
because man is to blame. 



316 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Zeal and fidelity and steadiness here is the 
hope of our Church. Save the children ! all 
the children ! Let them, as we have a right 
to expect, take their places in the Church of 
our fathers ; let us be true to our system, and 
there will be a bright and glorious day for our 
Reformed Church ! 

Multitudes of the baptized children, neg- 
lected in their infancy, in tender childhood, 
and in budding youth, are lost to the Church 
and the fold of Christ ! They perish for lack 
of nurture. The grace of God in their be- 
half is made of none effect. The sinful spirit 
of the world and a carnal heart of unbelief 
neutralize their baptismal grace. The possi- 
bility of salvation is not made real ! The 
Covenant of God in their behalf is broken ! 
But this does not of itself fail, nor does God 
come short on His part. He is not even 
slack concerning His promises ; not one of all 
His engagements fail. 

Christian parents and the Church must be 
equal to their responsibilities. Faithfulness 
and care on the human side will- surely result 
in final salvation and eternal blessedness. 
Training the children by Christian nurture in 
the strong and steady piety of the Church, 
they will love God and serve Him. 



CHAPTER X. 



CONFIRMATION. 

CONFIRMATION is the common right of 
all the baptized ; and holds an important 
relation therefore, to the Sacrament of 
Holy Baptism. In all those branches of the 
Church where Household Baptism is held in 
honor, there is a corresponding sense of Chris- 
tian Nurture. The true idea of this " nurture 
and admonition of the Lord/ 7 requires that 
what grace is secured for the baptized infants, 
shall be made good in the order of the cove- 
nant, as the child comes to years of maturit}^. 

The Lord's Prayer, trains to worship ; the 
"Apostles' Creed," to faith; and the Ten 
Commandments, to duty. Christian training 
in all this is found in our Catechetical teach- 
ings. 

Confirmation is the continuation of that 
Apostolic rite, handed down through all ages 
of the Christian Church ; in which by the lay- 
ing on of hands and prayer, all the promised 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



blessings of the Gospel, signed and sealed in 
Baptism, are confirmed unto believers. It is 
the act of ordination to the general priesthood 
of believers whereby we are formally admitted 
and inaugurated into the full communion and 
membership of the saints, as prophets, priests, 
and kings unto God. 

It ranges in other churches from a solemn 
sacramental rite to a mere empty formless mode 
of reception, into visible communion. For 
while many reject the full form, yet they gene- 
rally, in some way acknowledge the grace rep- 
resented by it. However bald and unmeaning 
the church customs, by which members are 
received, where the Apostolic rite of Confir- 
mation is rejected, there must yet be some for- 
mal act, by which the subjects vow to be the 
Lord's disciples, and the Church receives them 
in His name, and pledges the ordinances of 
the Lord to their use and behoof. 

In its true sense, the common conception of 
this act is one. There must be some act by 
which Christ is to be accepted, owned and con- 
fessed before men. There is also needed, on 
the part of the Church a formal transaction, 
laying claim to the free offers made in such 
act of confession ; and which constitutes recep- 
tion into the body of voluntary discipleship. 



SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY. 319 

This whole transaction may be more or less 
full, or incomplete. That which stands for 
it, may be known by different names. In the 
Reformed Church it is called Confirmation, 
for those who have been born in the covenant 
by Baptism in their infancy. In the case of 
adults, Baptism and the rite of Confirmation 
go together. 

SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY. 

Its importance demands a fair and general 
view, in order that justice be done those who 
do not agree with us in this sacred custom. 
In a historical and scriptural view, we differ 
from some who hold too much in Confirmation, 
and from those who divest it of its scriptural 
authority and hold too little in its form and 
contents. 

It has scriptural authority, found in Apos- 
tolic sanction and custom. The Apostolic 
Church, under the inspiration and guidance 
of the Holy Ghost, did administer what we 
call Confirmation to believers. It grew out of 
the Patriarchal custom of blessing by the lay- 
ing on of hands and prayer. After Baptism, 
the laying on of hands and prayer was, in the 
Church's order, the sign for the giving of the 
Holy Ghost. (Acts viii. 12-19; xix. 5, 6 ; 



3 20 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Eph. i. 13; iv. 30; 2 Cor. i. 22; Heb. vi. 2.) 
It seems in the early Church to have been in 
universal use. 

This holy rite, hence, recognized in full the 
gracious promises of God in Jesus Christ, 
(Rom. xv. 8), who would thus confirm unto 
the end those who were called to be Saints, 
(I Cor. i. 8) . After confirming the souls of 
the disciples in the churches he established, 
Paul exhorted them to continue in the faith, 
(Acts xiv. 22; xv. 41). The rite, in its sim- 
ple conditions of laying on of the minister's 
hands and prayer, was essentially the same as 
we hold it now. 

VOICE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 

We find it without opposition in the early 
Church, after the days of the Apostles. In 
the age but one remove from the Apostolic 
fathers, Tertullian tells us that in the Church 
of Carthage " Hands are laid upon the bap- \ 
tized, by this benediction, invoking and invi- [ 
ting the Holy Spirit." (Tertul. de Bapt. c. 
vii. 8). 

Cyprian, on Acts viii. 12-19, says: "The 
same custom is now observed among us, that 
they who are baptized in the church, are brought 
by the examiners, (catechists,) that by our 



IT IS NOT A SACRAMENT. 



321 



prayer and the laying on of hands, they may 
receive the Holy Spirit, and be consummated 
with the sign of the Lord." Similar testimony 
is also borne by Jerome, Augustine, and others. 

It continued from the days of the holy 
Apostles down through the Church of the sec- 
ond, and third, and fourth centuries, and later. 
The Reformers saw no sufficient reason why 
it should be altogether set aside at the time of 
the Reformation, though for a time it fell even 
there into disuse. Nor does the Reformed 
Church reject it now. 

Holding firmly to this simple Apostolic rite, 
we must differ from those who make it a Sac- 
rament, and no less from those who reject it 
altogether as an unmeaning or dangerous cus- 
tom. 

IT IS NOT A SACRAMENT. 

For reasons found in the scriptural and his- 
torical examples given, we differ from the 
Roman Catholic idea of Confirmation, which 
makes it a Sacrament. 

Instead of the Apostolic custom of "prayer 
and the laying on of hands,'' which they omit, 
they add the oil and balsam, or chrism, and 
cross-making with the bishop's right thumb, 
and striking with the right hand upon the 



322 



CREEDS AND CUSTOMS. 



cheek of the person to be confirmed, who has 
first been fasted and shorn. In all this there 
is little of the simple holy rite of the Apos- 
tles. 

The Greek Church has about the same cus- 
tom as the Roman, with this difference : It is 
administered immediately after Baptism, in the 
case of infants as well as adults. In the 
Latin Church seven years is the least age al- 
lowed, and the bishop only can administer it 
or delegate this power to another ; while in 
the Greek Church every priest and deacon is 
permitted to administer it. In the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, the privilege of officiating 
in this rite is reserved, the same as in the 
Roman, by the bishops, who claim highest 
authority in the ministry. In this, we dif- 
fer from them ; as all our ordained ministers 
of the Word, being bishops, have parity of 
rank and power. 

IT IS A SACPvED RITE. 

We differ from those who destroy this 
sacred rite altogether, because as they sup- 
pose, it savors of Romanism, or Ejoiscopacy. 
As the Apostolic Church certainly once held 
it without its later abuses, so the Reformers 
again restored it to its sublime simplicity. 



IT IS A SACRED RITE. 323 

Thus Calvin, whom Presbyterians especially 
claim to follow, approved highly of the "lay- 
ing on of hands and the benediction of con- 
firmation, and wished the rite restored to its 
primitive use." (Inst. bk. iv. xix. 4.) A re- 
port to the Presbyterian General Assembly, 
1812, says; "This rite of Confirmation, thus 
administered to baptized children, when ar- 
rived at competent years and previously in- 
structed with a view to their admission to the 
Lord's Supper shows clearly, that the Prima- 
tive Church, in her purest days, exercised the 
authority of a mother over her baptized 
children." Endorsing this, as the custom of 
the early Church in its best days, yet in reject- 
ing Confirmation, the Presbyterian Church 
differs in this from ours. 

The same testimony is borne by Eev. Dr. 
Coleman of the Congregational Church, which 
also rejects Confirmation. He says, in his 
sermon on The Ten Virgins : " The confession 
of the name of Christ is, after all, very lame, 
and will be so, till the discipline which Christ 
ordained be restored, and the rite of Confirma- 
tion be recovered to its full use and solemnity." 
It is also said that Dr. Adam Clark received 
Confirmation after he had become a Methodist 
preacher, because he considered it an Apos- 



3 2 4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tolic custom. And the late Rev. Dr. Bangs, 
also a Methodist, considers Baptism but half 
performed, unless "the imposition of hands 
and prayer " follows, that the blessing of the 
Holy Spirit may descend upon the subject of 
this holy ordinance. He is reported to have 
held it an undoubted faot, that Confirmation 
was an Apostolic practice, and ought to be 
continued in the Church. 

Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Meth- 
odists, nevertheless, reject Confirmation. So 
do Baptists, and others. From all these the 
Reformed Church differs. We, with St. Au- 
gustine, "acknowledge imposition of hands 
with prayer, that they which are so taught, 
might receive strength of God's Spirit, so to 
continue." 

AS WE HOLD IT. 

Others hold either too much or too little. 
We must consider the form and contents of 
the sacred rite in the customs of our Reformed 
Church. 

First, we reject, of course, the Romish idea, 
making it a Sacrament. Whatever sacramen- 
tal character is claimed for it, looks back to 
Baptism. 

The laying on of hands and prayer is re- 
tained in the administration of the rite in the 



AS WE HOLD IT. 



3 2 5 



Reformed Church, while the chrism, and cross- 
ing, and other manipulations of the Romish 
Sacrament, are denied to be parts of the Apos- 
tolic practice. 

The act itself on the part of the person con- 
firmed, is a confession of faith, and a personal 
acknowledgment and renewal of the baptis- 
mal vow. As being thus joined with the Sac- 
rament of Baptism, however, long before re- 
ceived, it must be regarded as a highly appro- 
priate and solemn act. When in any true 
sense administered and received, it would seem 
to bear with it vivifying grace, by the power 
of the Holy Spirit, invoked in the intercessory 
prayer, and signed in the laying on of hands 
by God's minister. 

The Lord Jesus, in this rite, by the Church, 
His body, in an outward and formal way, opens 
compassionately His saving arms to receive by 
an unmistakable symbol of w r elcome the re- 
turning prodigal to His loving breast. He lays 
His hands upon them by the hands of His min- 
ister, whom He has sent as His ambassador, 
and claims them for His own. The Church 
confirms in His name unto them, the gracious 
promises of the Gospel, and in them the Holy 
Spirit confirms abiding faith. 

Thus the whole sacred transaction has to 

28 



326 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



do with man and God, joining the visible acts 
of time with the unseen powers of the world to 
come. Such as come rightly to Him have here 
pledged to them that they are truly received 
into full covenant with Him. Jesus, the medi- 
ator of the new covenant, thus certifies those 
who come to Him by faith, that He, laying 
His hands on them by His minister, invokes 
in their behalf the manifold gifts of the Holy 
Spirit. 

All this, though signed and sealed already 
in Baptism, yet only becomes freely and per' 
sonally one's own when the baptized infant, 
now come to years of discretion and responsi- 
bility, heartily assumes those vows. It is, 
therefore, of great importance to those who 
were made members of the covenant by infant 
Baptism. 

Confirmation, implying confession of Christ, 
is for those already baptized. The person bap- 
tized in unconscious infancy, like the circum- 
cised Jew child, must become by open acknow- 
ledgment, a son of the congregation. At a cer- 
tain age the child of circumcision, we are told, 
appeared before an Elder in Israel, who blessed 
him, confirmed him and prayed over him, that 
he might be, not only a son of the covenant as 
by the rite of circumcision, but now also by 



ITS SIGNIFICANCE 



3 2 7 



Ms own act a son of the law and good works, 
and partake of the feast of the Passover. The 
holy vows uttered at Confirmation, make the 
baptismal vows of parents in behalf of their 
children, a voluntary act of the now responsi- 
ble child, who here having ratified their act, 
claims the covenant blessing, which God on 
His part most surely bestows. 

ITS SIGNIFICANCE. 

Laying on of hands, claims by the Church 
in Christ's stead, the service due to God. It 
also blesses in His name, and pledges, by this 
outward act, the confirming power of the 
Holy Spirit, who seals the subjects of grace, 
unto the day of redemption. 

" Baptism and the laying on of hands," St. 
Paul evidently joins among " the first prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ," whose " foun- 
dation" character, he as plainly declares. 
They follow the acts of " repentance and 
faith," and go before the "resurrection and 
eternal judgment." (Heb. vi. 2). 

Persons baptized in infancy, renew on their 
own part the vows made for them by their pa- 
rents, and they, at the same time profess their 
own faith in Christ by a free act ; while they 
also receive from Him an assured pledge of 



328 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the complete work of the Holy Ghost in 
them. They confirm their profession of love 
to the adorable Redeemer ; and God confirms 
them unto the end. St. Paul reminds the 
Ephesians upon whom he had laid his hands, 
(Acts xix. 6), that in Christ, after they had 
"believed " they were "sealed with that Holy 
Spirit of promise." 

It thus becomes, as it were, the ordaining 
act, by the force of which all Christians are 
consecrated, not only to be prophets in the 
Kingdom of grace, as they already are by 
Baptism, but also to become kings and priests 
unto God, by the common sign used in all 
grades of ordination, the laying on of hands. 

No small thing is Confirmation. It is not 
simply a way to join church. It is not mere- 
ly a human transaction, like making a bar- 
gain between man and man. Mortals here deal 
with the unseen Lord of heaven and earth. 
To a soul, at all alive to the realities that 
touch us here from the heavenly realms, it is 
fraught with untold interest and solemn awe. 
Angels and men are here God's great cloud of 
witnesses. 

The rite itself, so much honored after its 
introduction in the Reformed Church gene- 
rally, and no less in the Lutheran Church, 



ITS SIGNIFICANCE. 



3 2 9 



went out of use almost entirely along with 
much else that was good, under the influence 
of Rationalism in the seventeenth century. 
It was, however, restored again, and for the 
last hundred years, or more, has held its 
place, and is now in honor. 

In order to a proper observance of Confir- 
mation, not only Baptism is presupposed, but 
Christian nurture, in the religious training of 
the family, in the Sunday-school, and in the 
catechetical class, is a necessary antecedent. 
" Baptized children, when arrived at compe- 
tent years, and previously instructed and pre- 
pared for it, with the express view of their 
admission to the Lord's Supper," and only 
then, are to have Confirmation administered. 

So we find it enjoined upon parents, who 
have their offspring baptized, "that so soon 
as their children shall be able to learn, they 
are to remind them of their baptismal vows 
and obligations, and in particular to teach 
them the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, 
and the Ten Commandments, that they may 
know how to pray, what to believe, and what 
to practise. Finally, they are to see to it, that 
they be brought at the proper time to the 
minister to be instructed in the Catechism, 
and prepared for Confirmation and the Holy 

28* 



33° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Communion : that they may heartily renew 
their baptismal vows, renounce in their own 
name voluntarily, the world, the flesh, and 
the devil, profess Jesus Christ, and ever hon- 
or this profession by a holy life and conversa- 
tion, to the glory of God and the salvation of 
the soul." 

Consider now the conditions necessary to 
qualify candidates applying to be confirmed. 
They greatly mistake, who, among our ene- 
mies or friends, suppose this to be administered 
indiscriminately to all. 

PROPER SUBJECTS. 

So intimately is Confirmation connected 
with Baptism, that without that Sacrament 
going before, it is not possible ordinarily to 
conceive of the confirming grace of the Spirit. 

Though there are some of the sects who ad- 
mit to full communion " converts 99 who never 
have been baptized, and who so continue for 
years, or till death. The old practice, as being 
one with that of the Apostles, depends on the 
idea of the Church as a divine order, in whose 
Word and Sacraments, grace is received by faith 
from Christ by the dispensation of the ever- 
present Spirit. 

Hence, baptized children are to be so train- 



PROPER SUBJECTS. 



33 1 



ed that they may in due time claim their 
birthright blessings. Educational religion, in 
the use of the Catechism, or system of right 
doctrine, is to prepare them to complete what 
was begun in them at Baptism, by awakening 
in them a consciousness of the grace of Baptism 
and the benefits of God's holy covenant. 

Baptism must go before Confirmation. Even 
in the case of adults, "the minister shall 
immediately after Baptism lay his hands upon 
them and pronounce the benediction, thus 
uniting the rites of Confirmation and Baptism. " 
(Const. Part iv. Art. 5) . It is, however, previ 
ously required that such adult persons shall 
" possess correct ideas of Christian doctrine, 
and have a practical knowledge of its truth 
and power." 

For the baptized youth of the Church, how- 
ever, Confirmation is the normal order pro- 
vided in the divine plan of grace. The course 
of instruction in the doctrines of Christ, set 
forth in the Heidelberg Catechism, every min- 
ister shall give special attention to, that the 
youth may thereby be prepared to make a 
public profession of faith as members of the 
Church, and approach the Lord's table with 
just views and a proper frame of mind. Per- 
sons thus having the proper qualification are 



33 2 



CREED AND CUST0M3. 



to be " admitted to the communion of the 
Church, by the rite of Confirmation, according, 
to the mode prescribed in the Liturgy." 

Before Confirmation, it is required that the 
minister, shall, in the presence of the elders 
diligently examine whether the applicants 
rightly understand the fundamental doctrines 
of the Christian religion, and show their prac- 
tical influence, and purpose to lead a pious life. 
If all this is wanting they are to be kept from 
Confirmation. (Const. Pt. iv. Art. 11). The 
Eeformed Church carefully guards against the 
very mistake and abuse of this holy rite, 
which bigoted and dishonest enemies persist 
in charging that our Zion encourages, to the 
detriment of true religion. The opposite 
scheme or method of religion seems to have 
no true power to apprehend the idea of Sacra- 
mental grace in the ordinances of the Church. 

AGE OF PERSONS TO BE CONFIRMED. 

I 

At what age is the baptized child to be con- 
firmed ? In the Roman Catholic Church, from 
seven to eleven years, has been the common 
period. The Greek Church confirms all 
infants as soon as baptized. Protestants who 
retain Confirmation, consider twelve or four- 
teen years of age, as the earliest period for 1 



AGE OF PERSONS TO BE CONFIRMED. 



this holy transaction. The argument for 
this is variously derived. 

1. From the Civil law, which recognizes 
responsibility in the child at from eleven to 
fourteen years of age. Before the common 
law, which is the embodied experience of 
ages, boys of twelve years and upwards, ac- 
cording to Coke and Blackstone, may be 
sworn to allegiance. This makes that age 
capable of voluntary acts of obedience. If 
this is so as to human government, it may 
be true also of the divine economy, in the 
Church. 

2. From the Jewish customs of old, which 
fixed twelve years as the time for the circum- 
cised manchild to come forward and personal- 
ly take part in the rites of the congregational 
passover festival. It is said that on the "day 
a son was twelve years old, they carry and 
bring him before some ancient man (Elder), 
that he may bless him, and confirm him, and 
pray over him." 

3. From the history of Our Divine Lord 
himself; who also gave us an obedient exam- 
ple, when He was twelve years old, by go- 
ing up to Jerusalem to the feast of the Pass- 
over, as "was the custom" for youth of that 
age, in regard to the feast. 



334 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The Church, in view of these facts, though 
never having fixed a particular age for Confir- 
mation, has nevertheless given testimony in 
favor of an early age. So soon, as they are 
sufficiently instructed, after having come to 
years of discretion, they may be received into 
full communion, by virtue of their real mem- 
bership by Baptism in the Kingdom of Christ. 
The minister is for this end, to instruct the 
"youth," and youth, by the common law ex- 
tends from the age of fourteen years to ma- 
turity. 

Later, since the reigning power of a system 
of religion hostile to that more organic life of 
the primitive Church and of our fathers, has 
come to prevail, the day of Confirmation has 
been postponed to later years. Yet it must 
be owned that God's plan in the Scriptures, 
as well as the practice of the early Church is 
safer, wiser, better. The terrible risk of per- 
mitting a life of open sin, to antedate the self- 
consecration of the baptized child to God, in 
order that "a change of heart" may more 
strikingly appear, is shocking to the idea of 
Christian nurture. Better far, is it surely to 
have the whole life a service to God. The 
earliest self-responsible act, should be submis- 
sion to the will of our Heavenly Father, and 



AGE OF PERSONS TO BE CONFIRMED. 



a free acceptance of His grace, with a hearty 
consecration to His service. 

All the teachings of the Bible encourage the 
earliest self-consecration to the service of the 
Lord. All the experience of the Church goes 
also in the same way to prove, that they who 
seek the Lord early shall find Him. It ought 
not to be a question among Christians, whether 
it is better to encourage the youth to assume 
their duties and privileges early, than to edu- 
cate them into the notion, that they may, for 
years, be servants of sin, so that they may 
show a wider difference in their lives after they 
are experimentally converted. 

Christian nurture must assert its place, and 
train the baptized youth of the Church to a 
sense of their birthright blessings. So, when- 
ever they are brought to know their duty, and 
are willing to confess their discipleship, they 
should be admitted to Confirmation. 

Whatever blessings there be in Confirmation, 
it is wise to secure these, before the freshness 
of life is spent in giving vicious type and sinful 
habit to the soul, after the order of the world, 
the flesh and the devil. Parents would gain 
largely in the conscious safety of their children 
and these would escape thousandfold dangers. 
The grace of Confirmation seems to take faster 



33 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



hold on the young, than on those who delay 
it till older. 

'Twill save us from ten thousand snares, 

To mind religion young ; 
Grace will preserve our following years, 

And make our virtues strong. 

minister's PART. 

It behooves the ministry to bring Confirma- 
tion to the attention of the people. The com- 
mon practice is far from what it should be. 
Outside influences, hostile to the peculiar life 
of our Church, have been allowed to under- 
mine some of the old Customs. On the plea 
of becoming "like other denominations/' 
whose numbers and wealth give them a certain 
kind of power, even some of our ministry allow 
themselves to fall away from some of the dis- 
tinctive practices of our fathers. 

The hostility of the more violent modern 
sects, has aimed to destroy the peculiar life of 
the Reformed Church. Confirmation, a good 
custom, is confronted and opposed. In so far 
as we give up our own life, and fall in with 
the common current of spiritualism, they are 
all willing to tolerate our presence. 

But in so far as we hold in honor the divine 
order of grace in the Church, there will be 
more or less opposition. 



THE PEOPLE'S PART. 



337 



Only let not this, sweep us from our stand- 
point. With a firm purpose to be true to the 
genius of the Church, her ministers should not 
fail to bring these customs of our fathers into 
full honor among the people. Rightly taught, 
our people will not readily forsake these old 
paths, and will preserve the ancient Land- 
marks. 

THE PEOPLE'S PART. 

The people should give to Confirmation its 
proper honor. No false shame should drive 
us to give up this good old custom. Once con- 
vinced of its value, it will claim a hearty 
observance in all our churches. 

Parents should see to it that their children 
be so trained, that they may at the proper age 
he fit candidates for this solemn rite. With 
this steadily in view, send your children to the 
catechetical class. Train them in the doctrines 
of our holy religion. Thus they become dis- 
ciples, learners in the school of Christ; and 
being grounded in the truth and builded up in 
our most holy faith, they are not so readily 
blown about by every wind of doctrine and 
cunning craftiness of the sects, whereby the 
unstable are deceived. 

As our people are true to our own Church 
life in their families, they will find their chil- 

29 



338 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



dren abiding in the faith and customs of the 
fathers. And, then, from generation to gen- 
eration, there will not be found wanting those 
to take their places in standing before the 
Lord, and serving the God of our fathers in 
the Reformed customs of the sanctuary. 

THE BAPTIZED's PART. 

The duty of Baptized Youth is plain and 
pressing, in regard to Confirmation. They 
have all the blessings of the covenant secured 
to them, if they will but reach forth their hands, 
and by faith lay hold of them heartily. 

The Church and their parents design to do 
them good. A price is put into their hands 
wherewith they may secure eternal life. If 
they only know, in this their day of merciful 
visitation, they may lay hold on the crown 
of life through Jesus Christ. 

But they may, by their wilful neglect or 
carnal heart of unbelief, break God's covenant 
and despise their birthright. Thus they be- 
come like profane Esau, of old; and the 
sacred dedication of their Baptism is cancelled, 
while all its grace becomes to them of none 
effect. It becomes a terrible risk, when pa- 
rental training and pastoral influence are not 
active aids to the free and early choice of the 
baptized youth, in favor of God. 



HOPE TO ALL. 



339 



Confirmation ought to be as general as Bap- 
tism. In the Gospel, grace is promised. In 
Baptism, grace is secured, signed, and sealed. 
In confirmation this grace is claimed person- 
ally. If all the baptized youth of the Church 
are not confirmed at a proper age, it is because 
of defective Christian nurture, and a carnal 
heart in them. Baptized youth, above all, are 
bound to repent, believe, and obey the Gospel; 
all of which they freely seal in their voluntary 
confession at their Confirmation. " If ye know 
these things, happy are ye if ye do them." 

HOPE TO ALL. 

The same truth comes home to the inibap- 
tized, whose gracious privilege it is to hear the 
glad sound of the Gospel. It is one of the pe- 
culiar mysteries of grace, that while its bless- 
ings are sealed to those in the covenant, while 
it feeds "the children first," yet it has also 
some crumbs to spare for the hungry soul 
not of the family. There is abundance to sat- 
isfy the deepest wants of all. Gracious is the 
Lord ! Yea, good is our God, and very merci- 
ful ! He redeemeth thy life from destruction ! 
All souls are mine, saith the Lord. 

In regard to those still outside the covenant 
of grace, we are nevertheless authorized to 



34° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



speak from within the Church, in the language 
of Moses to Hobab : "Come thou with us, and 
we will do thee good ; for the Lord hath spoken 
good concerning Israel." The Church is the 
kingdom of grace, likened by the Saviour to a 
treasure hid in a field ; so that you would do 
well to give up all else, sell all, and buy that 
field to get possession of the treasure. Or, if 
a man is seeking goodly pearls, here he may 
find the Pearl of great price. 

See t(? it, then, that ye have the title to this 
goodly pearl, to this treasure hid in the field, 
made over unto you and confirmed. Becoming 
one of us, you are a fellow heir to the inherit- 
ance in this heavenly kingdom. The blessings 
of the Lord upon His people will then also be 
yours. The eternal reward will be confirmed 
unto you, even the crown of everlasting life ; 
which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give 
at that day. If you desire all this, be bap- 
tized and receive the confirming grace of the 
Lord Jesus, brought by the Holy Ghost in the 
Church, to all who receive the kingdom of 
Heaven as a little child. But outside of the 
Church — which is, at the same time, to be 
without Christ — there is no salvation prom- 
ised ; but confirmed in His grace, faithful unto 
death, insures heavenly peace and rest ! 



CHAPTER XL 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

THE doctrine of the Lord's Supper is more 
for faith, than for natural reason. Like 
the doctrine of the holy, glorious, and 
blessed Trinity itself, it cannot be brought 
down by the carnal mind to its own plane or 
level. 

The mystical element in the doctrine of the 
Holy Supper, will ever keep it above the 
sphere of blinded reason. The infinite cannot 
be bounded by limits. Neither can the divinely 
mysterious, be fathomed by common sense. 

To unending ages will the mere human un- 
derstanding, vainly strive to unravel the mys- 
tery of the Incarnation. The doctrines which 
grow out of this ground, must be believed 
rather than fathomed by reason according to 
its laws. The Kingdom of grace, if appre- 
hended at all, is to be "in a mystery." 

The less reasoning, and the more divine 
revelation for faith, we have in considering 



342 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



this doctrine, the less liability will there be for 
mistake, in regard to this Sacrament. 

It was appointed by our Lord Himself, be- 
fore He was crucified, the same night in which 
He was betrayed. The emblems used were 
bread and wine. The bread as His broken 
body, the wine as His shed blood. It is there- 
fore, the "communion of the body and blood of 
oar Saviour Jesus Christ." It is a memorial 
for ever, of His suffering life, His atoning 
death, His triumphant resurrection, and His 
glorified life. As often as it is celebrated by 
His followers, they do show His death till He 
comes. 

It is intended only for believers. It is for 
them the Sacrament of nutrition and sancti- 
fication, as Baptism is of regeneration. Birth 
first and nourishing afterwards. Commemora- 
ting our Lord's death upon the cross, we are 
made partakers of His life and of the merits of 
His death. We are by it assured of His per- 
petual Presence, and of our union and com- 
munion with Him, and of the Communion of 
Saints, flowing from His divine life. 

It is called the Lord's Supper, the breaking 
of bread, and the communion. It is also called 
Eucharist, or the sacramental thanksgiving ; 
and, as the central act of all our worship, the 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 



343 



Greek fathers called it (Atrvpvia) the Liturgy. 
In the Romish Church it is called commonly 
the Mass. It is called, by way of emphasis, 
The Sacrament. In the new covenant, it holds 
the same place as did the Passover, which it 
abolished, in the old. When the Lamb of God, 
that was slain from the foundation of the 
world, was offered for sin, all other types and 
sacrifices ceased. 

The early Christians met together on the 
first day of the week to break bread, or cele- 
brate the Holy Supper. Those who could not 
be present, had a portion taken to their homes ; 
and afterwards many would carry away some 
of the bread, to eat daily of it during the 
week. While it is easy to see how this would 
lead to abuse, it is yet a fact worthy of note, 
to observe how important the early church re- 
garded the frequent partaking of the Holy 
Supper. 

Christ's mystical and prophetical words to 
Nicodemus, (John iii. 1-5), before Christian 
Baptism was instituted, were afterwards re- 
ferred by the Church to the Sacrament of regen- 
eration; so His mystical teachings at Capernaum 
(John vi.) were also made to refer to the Sac- 
rament of sanctification. The New Life sac- 
ramentally begotten of water and the Spirit is 



344 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



here sacramentally fed by the use of bread and 
wine, thereby nourished, strengthened and 
made to grow into the life of Christ. That 
life which is first born of God, is by His gra- 
cious means sustained and made strong by that 
Bread from heaven, of which if a man eat he 
shall not die. 

Hence, in all ages of the Christian Church 
where the power of true faith prevailed, this 
Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, has been 
regarded as the most central service of the 
whole Christian life. It is that act in which 
we make the nearest approach to God, possible 
this side of heaven. 

It is the centre and end of all worship, 
having direct reference to the " One sacrifice of 
Christ " made for us on the cross, which alone 
has power to take away sin. The proper cele- 
bration of this sacramental communion, has 
been made to hold for faith, a real and peren- 
nially sacrificial character. It is not indeed 
a renewal of sacrifice, as the Roman Mass idola- 
trously holds; but it has a real part in the one 
sacrifice made once for all upon the cross, and 
of force always to put away sin. In the broken 
body and shed blood of our dear Redeemer, 
we have the real sacrifice of the Lamb of God 
which taketh away the sin of the world. There 



THIS DOCTRINE IN OUR CATECHISM. 345 



is now for us, a fountain opened in the house of 
David, for sin and uncleanness. 

Very spiritual and heavenly realities are 
then mystically present for us, in this Sacra- 
ment, no less than in Baptism. As a means 
of grace, it confirms the heavenly blessings of 
the Gospel promises. It offers, conveys and 
makes over for our faith, by the Holy Spirit, 
all the benefits of Christ's life, of course em- 
bracing also His death, and resurrection, His 
ascension and mediation. 

THIS DOCTRINE IN OUR CATECHISM. 

Our Catechism teaches (Quest. 75 et seq.) : 
"That our participation, of the one sacrifice of 
Christ on the cross and all His benefits, is sig- 
nified and sealed to us in the Holy Supper 
thus : that Christ has commanded me, and all 
believers, to eat of this broken bread, and to 
drink of this cup, and has joined therewith 
these promises : First, that His body was offered 
and broken on the cross for me, and His blood 
shed for me, as certainly as I see with my eyes 
the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the 
cup communicated to me ; and further, that 
with His crucified body and shed blood, He 
Himself feeds and nourishes my soul to ever- 
lasting life as certainly as I receive from the 



346 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



hand of the minister, and taste with my mouth 
the bread and cup of the Lord, which are given 
me as a certain token of the body and blood 
of Christ." 

And the eating of the crucified body and the 
drinking of the shed blood of Christ is defined 
to be : " Not only to embrace with a believing 
heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, 
and thereby to obtain the forgiveness of sins 
and life eternal; but moreover also, to be so 
united more and more to His sacred body by 
the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ 
and in us, that though He is in heaven and we 
on the earth, we are nevertheless flesh of His 
flesh and bone of His bone, and live and are 
governed forever by one Spirit, as members of 
the same body, are by one soul." 

The appeal is then made to the words of 
our Lord in the institution, and the repeated 
form of the same by St. Paul, to set forth the 
pledge of all this. 

It guards further, against the heresy that 
the bread and wine become the body and blood 
of Christ. As the water in Baptism is not 
changed into the blood of Christ, nor becomes 
the washing away of sin itself, being only the 
divine token and assurance thereof; so also, in 
the Lord's Supper the consecrated bread does 



THIS DOCTRINE IN OUR CATECHISM. 347 



not become the body of Christ itself, though 
agreeably to the nature and usage of Sacra- 
ments, it is called the body of Christ. 

So Christ, not without great cause, calls the 
bread His body and the cup His blood, or the 
New Testament in His blood ; and St. Paul 
calls them the communion of the body and 
blood of Christ. 

This Sacramental language is to teach us, 
that as bread and wine sustain this temporal 
life, so also His crucified body and shed blood, 
are the true meat and drink of our souls unto 
eternal life ; but much more, by this visible 
sign and pledge to assure us, that we are as 
really partakers of His true body and blood, 
through the working of the Holy Ghost, as 
we receive by the mouth of the body these 
holy tokens in remembrance of Him; and 
that all His sufferings and obedience are as 
certainly our own, as if we had ourselves suf- 
fered and done all in our own persons. 

The Popish Mass denies what this affirms, 
and teaches what this denies, in reference 
to the one sacrifice of Christ, and His presence 
in the right use of the Holy Emblems. 

All those who hate sin and who trust in 
the merits of Christ for pardon of their sins ; 
and who desire to strengthen their faith and 



348 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



amend their lives, may come to this table. But 
impenitent and hypocrites, unbelieving and 
ungodly should not be admitted, till they 
amend their life. 

In the age of the Reformation and since, 
there have been most violent differences in re- 
gard to this doctrine. It is opposed on one 
side by Romanists and Old Lutherans; and on 
the other, by Rationalists and Infidels. 

THIS DOCTRINE'S EXTREMES. 

Roman Catholics in the Mass, hold the doc- 
trine of Transubstantiation. Lutherans ori- 
ginally held it in the form of what is called 
Consubstantiation. Rationalists empty it of 
all its mystical and spiritual meaning; and 
Infidels deny the whole idea of the Sacra- 
ment. 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 

This dogma, holds that the bread and wine 
are changed by the act of consecrating them, 
into the very body and blood of our Lord. 
While they claim that the change is real, 
yet they must also hold that the appearance 
of the elements remains the same. The 
bread and wine, continue to look, taste and 
smell like bread and wine ; but in reality 



TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 



349 



they are no longer bread and wine, but are 
now the very body and blood of Christ ; so 
that whoever partakes of them, eats the body 
and blood of our Lord. 

The Catechism of the Council of Trent 
teaches, that : "In the material elements of 
which other Sacraments are composed, no 
change takes place ; in Baptism, for instance, 
the water, in confirmation, the chrism, lose 
not in their administration, the nature of water 
and of oil; whilst in the Eucharist, that which 
before consecration was bread and wine, be- 
comes after consecration really and substan- 
tially the body and blood of our Lord." 

"Seeing, as we do, that bread and wine are 
every day changed by the power of nature, 
into human flesh and blood, we are, by the 
obvious analogy of the fact, the more readily 
induced to believe, that the substance of the 
bread and the wine is changed, by the celes- 
tial benediction, into the real body and blood 
of Christ." * * * " That, however repug- 
nant it may appear to the dictate of the 
senses, no substance of the elements remains 
in the Sacrament. * * * The substance of 
the bread and wane is so changed into the 
body and blood of our Lord, that they alto- 
gether cease to be the substance of bread and 

30 



350 



CREED AND CUSTOMS 



wine." " When, the whole substance of one 
thing passes into the whole substance of an- 
other, the change is wisely and appropriately 
called Transubstantiation." 

Now as if in the Elevation of the Host, the 
whole living Christ were present locally, in 
the consecrated bread, or wafer, when it is lifted 
up before the people, they adore and worship it. 
But as the bread is a material thing, they are 
guilty of worshiping a creature, which is idol- 
atry. They claim too, that the Sacrament is 
a Sacrifice which is to be in the Mass daily , a 
renewal or repeating of the offering of Christ 
on the Cross. 

This idolatrous service of the Mass our Ca- 
techism rejects, and in the 80th question 
pointedly condemns. 

CONSUBSTANTIATION. 

The Lutheran doctrine of the Real Pres- 
ence, comes most near to that of the Popish 
Mass. They express the mode of the bodily 
presence by the terms in, with and under , 
the emblems of bread and wine. 

According to this dogma, the bread and wine 
are not changed as Romanists teach ; but while 
they remain bread and wine, the true body and 
blood of Christ in glorified substance is present 



CONSUBSTANTIATION. 



351 



in the elements, in such local way as to be 
taken by the mouth. Then it follows that 
there are two substances, material bread and 
wine, and the corporeal body of Christ, in 
the same place at the same time. This is 
called Consubstantiation. The bread and wine 
hold or contain, besides their own properties 
of matter, the real body and blood of our 
Lord. All communicants, therefore, partake 
of the body and blood of Christ along with 
the bread and wine ; the worthy to salvation, 
the unworthy to condemnation. 

The body of our Saviour present, according 
to this Lutheran view, is " the actual presence 
of the glorified Redeemer, and that the un- 
changed bread and wine received by the com- 
municant, are not only the outward visible signs 
of an inward spiritual grace, but connected 
with the word and promise of God ; the vehi- 
cles through whose instrumentality the divine 
Saviour communicates Himself to those who 
partake of them." (Dr. Schmidt). It is not, 
however, such an eating, though it is received 
with the mouth, " as though the body of Christ 
were masticated, digested in the stomach, and 
converted into nutriment for our bodies." 
(Spener.) The body received orally, or with 



352 CREED AND CUSTOMS. 

the rnouth, is not the earthly, but the glorified, 
though real body of our blessed Saviour. 

The Lutherans seem to have never been 
able to settle for themselves the precise doc- 
trines which their confessions set forth. Some 
New Measure or American Lutherans, as they 
have been called, hold extremely low views, 
not only of this Sacrament, but of all sacra- 
mental doctrines. These either reject their 
church's symbols, or explain them down to a 
very low point. Others are extreme in their 
teachings of this doctrine, seemingly not far 
short of the Romish dogma. Between these 
differences in the Lutheran Church is doubt- 
less the great body of true Lutherans, who con- 
sistently hold the teachings of their standards. 

This extreme doctrine of original Lutheran- 
ism was the main cause of the long and violent 
controversies of the Reformation age, between 
them and the Reformed. We have only need 
to refer to the histories of those times, to see 
that in no other point was there such real dif- 
ference as in this doctrine, and what grew out 
of it. 

The Rationalistic negative of all reality in 
the Sacrament, is the other extreme. All is 
reduced to a level with human reason, or com- 
mon sense. The celebration itself is a mere 



PURITAN RATIONALISM. 



353 



memorial; being, in fact, nothing more in the 
sphere of religion, than the Fourth of July cele- 
bration is in the State. All mystical benefits 
and sacramental grace are excluded. It be- 
comes a moral communion between two friends, 
resting on the memory of a promise, the one 
made to the other. 

With this spirit, it is plain, a large part of 
the Puritanic religion of the age is more or 
less in sympathy. Others introduce, perhaps, 
what they call a spiritual element, but still 
holding the doctrine of this Sacrament in the 
popular notion ; that all there is about it more 
than bread and wine, is a spiritual influence, 
coming from the divine side of Christ's nature. 
It may thus claim a spiritual union between 
the believer and Christ. But the relation is 
merely moral, representative, commemora- 
tive and abstractly spiritual only. This has 
been called Zicinglianism. And many sup- 
pose, that those, who hold something more 
than bald Rationalism in this Sacrament, and 
still reject the Romish and Lutheran dogmas, 
must rest here. Hence, some call this the Re- 
formed doctrine. But it is as far too much be- 
low the true Reformed doctrine, as old Lu- 
theran and Romish teaching is too much the 
other way. 

30* 



354 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 

In sharp opposition, to the Real change of 
the elements into the body and blood of Christ 
as taught by the Romanists ; and as opposed 
to the Real corporeal Presence of Christ, taken 
with the mouth "in, with and under" the 
bread and wine, as held and taught by the 
Lutheran Confession ; and as still something 
more however than the mere spiritual influ- 
ence, or empty mental transaction of the Ra- 
tionalistic sects ; the Reformed doctrine holds 
a true, or Spiritual Real Presence of Christ 
in the Sacrament of the Holy Supper. This 
doctrine holds the presence to be in character 
and mode sacramental. Hence it gave name 
to this branch of the Church, as Sacramentar- 
ians. 

It is real, without the corporal, or local 
character attaching to the presence ; hence, it 
is spiritual, not gross, or fleshly. Real, in the 
sense of true, as opposing the notion that in 
the Holy Sacrament there is no Christ in any 
way, except for thought or memory, present. 

The worthy communicant sacramentally 
partakes, according to our Catechism, of the 
crucified body and shed blood of Christ. Spir- 
itual, it is called at the same time, to keep 



THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 



355 



out the idea of local or corporeal presence of 
Christ. "Not real simply, and not spiritual 
simply ; but real and yet spiritual at the 
same time." 

The spiritual real presence is by the Holy 
Ghost, bringing the invisible and spiritual in 
a real way, into the sacramental sign, used 
by the believer. There is therefore nothing 
material in the Presence, but yet a spiri- 
tual reality. The participation sacramentally, 
makes over to us, our Saviour's life ; so that 
Christ and the believer become, more and 
more, one. The life and immortality brought 
to light in Christ, is communicated sacra- 
mentally to the believer. 

Divine grace is conferred. What there is of 
grace in the holy ordinance is for faith, but 
the Sacrament itself is not made by the 
worthy participant. While faith is needed, 
the virtue of the Holy Sacrament is not 
created by anything either in faith or in the 
person of the believer. The invisible grace 
received, in man's right use of the visible sign, 
is not the product of the sign nor of its human 
use. The Sacrament is real in itself. 

The relation between the sign and the thing 
signified is a real union, because God in con- 
stituting the Sacrament, has so bound them 



356 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



together. The relation of the power of life in 
the germ lodged in the seed, is to the outward 
form of the seed, a real one. It is just what 
God's creative power has made it to be. If 
man sows it in good ground, it will grow into 
fuller life ; if he does not thus condition it, the 
germ remains a real life only in possibility. 

Faith then, does not create the power or 
grace present in the Sacrament ; but faith is 
necessary to secure its effects for man. It 
does not mechanically by its own law put 
grace into man. Poison will kill, whether 
the man who takes it, believes, or not, that it 
will. There is, however, no such operation 
in the emblems to produce the grace that goes 
along with them in the Holy Supper. But to 
all true believers they do carry with them 
that grace for which they were appointed of 
God. This grace with its virtue or force is 
sacramental ; that is, in the proper use of 
God's instituted means, He exhibits, offers and 
confers His grace to believers. 

In the Lord's Supper are the benefits of 
the crucified body and shed blood of Christ, 
as now and forever ours, by virtue of His glo- 
rified life. Our participation in Him, as He 
now lives, is real, in the Holy Communion. 
He is the principle of a new life, in His di- 1 



THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 



357 



vine-human Person. That is to be communi- 
cated to us else we cannot conquer death 
and the grave, and rise to life a,ncl immortali- 
ty. It is in Him, by His true Incarnation, a 
holy mystery ; so is the same life, as reach- 
ing our redemption, communicated to His 
worthy followers. His flesh and blood belong 
to His mysterious life, both in His own Per- 
son, and in the making over of Himself to 
Christian disciples. 

The Sacrament of the Holy Supper, signs 
to us not only general grace from the divine 
side, but unites us more and more to Christ's 
Person. Christ's sacrifice was made for us on 
the cross, in His divine-human life. All re- 
mission of sins flows from this same redeem- 
ing life. Partaking of that life of Jesus, ac- 
cording to St. Peter, we escape the corruption 
that is in the world through lust. Hence, 
partaking properly of the holy Sacrament of 
the body and blood of our Saviour, we receive 
not only the sacrifice once offered on the cross 
in the body of Christ ; but the life-giving 
power and efficacy of His crucified body and 
shed blood. The ground and source of our 
salvation is in the Person and life of our Re- 
deemer; and His works and words, His suffer- 
ings and death, His resurrection and glorifica- 



358 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



tion are all parts in the process of our re- 
demption, of the mystery of that life. 

Our Saviours flesh, His body, the human 
side of Christ, was the incarnate home of the 
grace and truth, of which He was full. And 
through this as a medium He mysteriously 
reaches our souls. The Son of Man, (not only 
Son of God) hath power on earth to forgive 
sins. The Sacrament is not something equal 
to receiving only a spiritual influence, but 
through the flesh and blood of the Son of 
Man, to find life eternal, in fellowship with 
the Son of God. 

Present as in no other service, far above 
any mental thought or intellectual presence 
merely, the Lord Jesus is mystically in the 
Communion of His body and blood. He real- 
ly, in our human nature, offered Himself for 
sin ; and so, He brings Himself in the deep- 
est mystery of grace to His followers, that 
they may really partake of His life, or sacra- 
mentally eat His flesh and drink His blood, 
as a remedy for sin, a deliverance from death, 
and a feeding of the soul with the nourish- 
ment of immortality. 

Of course, this is by the workings of the 
Holy Ghost ; but not in such way as to make 
it to be a gracious influence only, of the same 



THE REFORMED DOCTRINE. 



359 



order as that in prayer, or some pious medi- 
tation. But in the order of the Spirit as 
above the sphere of mere nature, the reality 
of Christ's life-presence is in the Communion. 
This enters into the very idea itself of the 
Sacrament, which unites and holds joined in 
mystical union, the invisible efficacy of grace 
with the visible sign. While this union is 
neither magical nor yet natural, it is never- 
theless, real. 

Grace is ever mysterious, not natural ; and 
the union of Christ with His people is mysti- 
cal, not rational or mental merely. So this 
Sacrament of His mysterious redemption, 
holding in His Incarnate Person, reaches His 
people in this mystical relation to their na- 
ture. Our nature can only be redeemed and 
sanctified by being united to the Redeemer s 
life, partaking of His divine nature, and so, 
being restored to that holiness, lost in our 
first father Adam. Christ's merits and bene- 
fits are not to be for us, only in the dead past 
of memory, or even in spiritual thought ; but 
what He is, in His living, and life-giving pow- 
er, as the Son of Man, seeking and saving us 
by the mystical presence of His Person, m the 
sacramental mysteries of His heavenly grace. 

The Reformed Church has perhaps more 



3 6 ° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



steadily than any other, stood faithful, and, 
to a wonderful degree, firm also, to her origi- 
nal teaching of this doctrine. Under the in- 
fluence of an element foreign to her own life, 
there have at times been those among us, who 
could not clearly and steadily speak the pure 
language of Canaan, without faltering and 
stammering. But the Reformed Church, in 
her history, her Synods, and her Catechism, 
has always borne a consistent and steady mar- 
tyr testimony to this doctrine, as held by the 
Fathers. 

We are not Zwinglians, as that term is 
popularly held, in regard to this Sacrament. 
Still more untrue to the old Reformed doc- 
trine, are those who would empty the Lord's 
Supper of all mystery, of all mystical pres- 
ence, and of all divine grace — leaving nothing 
in it but the bare sign, a memory, a thought, 
a friendly sympathy. 

We are to hold what is the Sacramental 
Faith of the Reformed Church. We are to 
receive the doctrine as taught to us in our 
Catechism, in the history of the Church, and 
in the creed of the fathers. All carry us back 
to the New Testament, to the Apostles, and 
our Lord Jesus Himself. The old Reformed 



A MEMORIAL. 



361 



doctrine is coming to a more conscious expres- 
sion in our Church. 

The Reformed doctrine includes much that 
is rejected by the low extreme of Rational- 
ism and the Puritanic sects. It excludes much 
that is held by the high extreme of old Lu- 
therans and Papists. In the form and con- 
tents of our view, may be found what the un- 
sacramental sects refuse to allow, and what is 
less than the hyper-sacramental bodies con- 
sider necessary. 

A MEMORIAL. 

We hold that the Lord's Supper is a Memo- 
rial service, showing the sacrificial death of 
Christ. Here we have the command, " Do 
this in remembrance of me." This holy Sac- 
rament is an abiding memorial of Christ's pre- 
cious death. It becomes, therefore, a true par- 
ticipation in the sacrifice of Himself once made, 
but of force always, to put away sin. So far 
Zwingle, and Luther, and Calvin were of one 
mind. 

Herein is the love of God toward us ; that 
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us ; 
made atonement by the priceless sacrifice of 
His body and blood. It is a memorial pledge 
brought to us in the bread and wine, the em- 

31 



3 62 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



blenis of His crucified body broken for us, and 
of His shed blood poured out for us. The sac- 
rifice He made once for all, is a perennial fact 
reaching to the end of time ; because, though 
He were once dead, yet now He ever lives as 
our High Priest, making continually operative 
His one offering for our redemption. Hence, 
even as a memorial of His sacrifice, it is not 
alone a commemoration of His death, but a 
pledge of His life rather, because now He ever 
liveth. 

"He was crucified, dead, and buried." This, 
the Sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus 
Christ, sets forth in the sacrificial offering of 
the altar. And here our sacramentum, or holy 
oath, is made of fidelity to Him, while life and 
breath last. He gives us the sign, and seal- 
ing the testimony, says : " Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee the crown of 
life." 

Even as a memorial service, it has not ex- 
clusive reference to the death of Christ ; but 
by this and through it, to the life of the Man 
Christ Jesus, the One living Mediator between 
God and man. "He rose from the dead;" 
and, therefore, the merits of His sacrificial death 
become available to us. The blessed memorial 



MYSTICAL PRESENCE. 



3^3 



of His sacrifice and death pledges to His people 
the crown of everlasting life. 

Stretched on the cross, the suffering, bleed- 
ing, dying Lamb of God, slain from the found- 
ation of the world, in this abiding memorial of 
His precious death, makes atonement possible; 
not only because He had power to lay down 
His life, but much more because He had power 
to take it up again. The commemoration of 
His death is, then, at the same time, a blessed 
memorial of His human life, not holden of 
death, but still forever joined with His divine 
nature, at the right hand of glory and power, 
with which we also are joined. 

"In remembrance of" Him, is the memorial 
of the whole crucified, dead, risen, and glori- 
fied Christ. 

MYSTICAL PRESENCE. 

There is also in the Sacrament of the body 
and blood of Christ, a Mystical Presence of the 
benefits of His life. His perpetual presence in 
His Church, is sealed in the Holy Supper. 
Where J esus is, there, and there only, is divine 
and saving power. This presence is real. It 
is spiritual, that is, by the power of the Holy 
Ghost ; and for the soul, not for the mouth ; 
for faith, not for reason. It is gracious, not 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



natural ; sacramental, not empirical ; mysti- 
cal, not magical for the reflective mind ; glo- 
rified, not earthly body and blood ; divine- 
human, not Gnostic, or Eutychian, or Nesto- 
rian. It is a perpetual union of the divine and 
the human, not a denial of it, not a mingling 
or confusion of the two, nor yet a separation of 
them. 

Especially in this ordinance, He seals to His 
humble followers that believe on Him, His tes- 
timony that He will be ever present with them, 
sustaining, strengthening, nourishing, and feed- 
ing them. He is their refuge, their shield, 
their hiding-place, their sure defence, their 
righteousness, and their eternal life beyond the 
grave. 

In the breaking of bread the two disciples' 
eyes were opened to recognize their present 
Lord. So He came afterwards to all assem- 
bled and said, Peace be unto you ! and showed 
them His wounded hands, and side, and feet. 
And this Presence gives peace to the troubled 
soul. It seals our only comfort in life and in 
death. Redeeming love, undying, infinite, 
reveals itself in the emblems manifesting His 
glorious presence. 



" Here we receive repeated seals 
Of Jesus' dying love." 



MYSTICAL PRESENCE. 



365 



But did that " dying love " itself die ? And 
if still undying, is there nothing here but the 
reflection that Jesus loved us, and still loves us? 
Not merely as a dead sign, but as a veritable 
seal also, is the Holy Supper. The visible car- 
ries with it the invisible and mystical power 
of the life-bearing and life-giving body and 
blood of Christ. 

Though "we know^ the power, we know not 
the mode, yet we believe the presence/' The 
whole crucified Christ, yea, all His benefits, 
" are exhibited and offered to all communi- 
cants, while to believers they are actually given 
and made over, so as to be received by them 
as saving and life-giving food to the soul. s ' The 
relation between the things seen and the grace 
unseen, is mystical; and the union of them is 
sacramental. 

We are, in body and soul, redeemed and saved. 
We are united to the divine-human nature 
of our Lord, as really as we partake of the 
nature of Adam. The one is in nature ; the 
other is in grace. As in Adam all die, so in 
Christ shall all be made alive. We by nature 
partake of Adam's sinful and dying life. By 
grace we partake no less, really, of the risen 
and glorified life of the Son of Man. Begun 

(sacramentally) in Holy Baptism, it is fed and 

31* 



3 66 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



nourished in the (sacramental) mystery of the 
Holy Supper. 

Faith is the hand and mouth of the soul. 
The power is by the Holy Ghost. In this 
Sacrament we " participate in the true medi- 
atorial life of the blessed Redeemer, as an ele- 
ment of immortality, as well as righteousness.' , 

COMMUNION. 

It is often called The Communion" ; because 
of its mystical grace, making* us one with 
Christ and His saints. 

The bread which we break, is it not the 
communion of the body of Christ ? And the 
cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the 
communion of the blood of Christ ? Friend 
holds fellowship with friend. But Jesus comes 
and feasts our souls by the power of the Holy 
Ghost, in this most comfortable Sacrament ox 
His body and blood. We become members 
of His body and of His flesh and of His bones. 
He does give us of His crucified flesh to eat, 
and of His shed blood to drink. His flesh is 
meat indeed, and His blood is drink indeed. 
Mystically in a real communication of Himself, 
He makes us partakers of the divine nature, 
whereby we overcome corruption and lust. 



COMMUNION. 



367 



He manifests Himself unto His people, as He 
does not unto the world. 

He is the Bread of Heaven, and the bread 
which He gives is His flesh, which is given 
for the life of the world. Except men eat the 
flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood 
they have no life in them. 

"Behold ! I stand at the door and knock ; if 
any man will open unto me, I will come in 
and sup with him, and he with Me !" If we 
hear His invitation to this wondrous feast; 
and come, with the wedding garment on, He 
will banquet with us. Here we are brought 
into contact with the realities of that true 
spiritual world in which Christ now rises from 
the dead, continually lives and reigns. We 
have exhibited and brought home to us, at 
once, both the forgiveness of sin through His 
death, and the gift of immortality through His 
glorious resurrection. 

Our souls shall draw their heavenly breath, 

While Jesus finds supplies ; 
Nor shall our graces sink to death, 

For Jesus never dies. 

In this communion, we come also through 
Him to have part in the fellowship of the 
Communion of Saints. Christ dwelling in 
the believer, and they in Him, they come to be 



3 63 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



one. In them each, is the divine image 
formed — the hope of glory. They are the 
branches ; and the life that flows in the Vine 
passes into all the living branches with its 
vivific power. 

A real fellowship of faith is established. We 
love the brethren, or rather love the Christ- 
life in the brethren, So that, if any man love 
not the brethren, it is because the love of 
Christ is not in him. Communing, and ban- 
queting at the table of the Lord, we receive 
the life-power of the love of Jesus which He 
sheds abroad in the heart. 

By the in working of the Holy Ghost, all the 
graces of the heavenly communion flow to us. 
In the full fruits of the atonement and re- 
demption, this communion and fellowship hold 
between Christ and believers. "For we being 
many are one bread and one body ; for we are 
all partakers of that one bread." 1 Cor. x. 17. 

If our fathers, placing themselves upon the 
strongly fortified middle ground of our Cate- 
chism, could meet the fierce assaults of oppo- 
sition, we may find weapons in the same ar- 
mory, doubtless, for defence and safety. Be- 
cause the interest is most sacred, it needs only 
all the more faithfulness in its guardianship 
committed to us. 



COMMUNION. 



3 6 9 



We hold that Christ is present in the Holy 
Supper. His person as the God-man, is the 
centre and fountain of grace and truth, life 
and salvation. To get His benefits, we must 
first have Himself. His life is made ours by a 
mystical union, which becomes completed in 
the final glorification of our whole nature, body 
and soul, with Him. 

We commemorate not only His sufferings 
and death, but also His resurrection and as- 
cension, and all His glorified life, now that He 
forever lives and reigns our Prince and Sa- 
viour. We commune with Him and He with 
us. Our redeemed life is one with His glorified 
life. Thus our fellowship is with the Son, and 
through Him, by the Holy Ghost, who dwells 
in Him and in us, with the Father. This 
communion holds in a real, yet spiritual way ; 
and it is in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper, as no where else in any other worship 
or service. We partake of bread and wine, 
but share His flesh and blood. 

" Millions of souls in glory now, 

Were fed and feasted here, 
And millions more still on the way 

Around the board appear." 



CHAPTER XII. 



GENERAL WORSHIP. 



HRISTIAN Worship is in full harmony 



\J with the deepest inward constitution of 
man's spiritual nature. All men worship 
something, to satisfy those deep wants of na- 
ture. Many, however, cheat their souls, by 
setting up a false object of worship, or by wor- 
shiping in a wrong form. Nothing that is not 
true Christian worship of God m Christ, can 
fully satisfy the deepest wants of mankind. 

Divine Worship is a true spiritual service, 
in which the soul holds communion with God 
our Father, through J esus Christ by the Holy 
Ghost. It is the homage and adoration which 
the dependent creature pays to the Creator. It 
is the love which the ransomed soul manifests 
to our adorable Saviour, in grateful return, for 
His matchless grace. It is the fellowship, 
whereby the Christian disciple holds commu- 
nion with God, whose Spirit bears witness with 




370 



GENERAL WORSHIP. 



371 



our spirits, that we are heirs to the heavenly 
inheritance. 

Enter into thy closet — and pray to thy 
Father; this is the command for private devo- 
tion. And where two or three are assembled 
together in the name of our blessed Lord, He 
will be with them. 

St. Paul exhorts the general discipleship, 
not to forget the assembling of themselves to- 
gether, as the manner of some is. In this, w r e 
have a plain intimation of this Christian prac- 
tice as a perpetual duty. His directions to 
have his epistles read in the churches, and for 
the regular Lord's day offerings, show the 
custom established in Apostolic times. See 
further Acts ii. 14, iv. 23. 31, Rom. xv. 6, 1 
Cor. xi. 18, xiv. 16, Eph. v. 19-20, etc. 

In a Baptist paper, we read a good while 
since: "On all sides there are notes of discon- 
tent, with the present character and effect, or 
alleged no effect of Public Worship. A Con- 
gregational cotemporary has argued for the 
right and propriety of some service to give 
variety and animation to the services of the 
Sanctuary, and especially to enlist more power- 
fully the devout feelings of the congregation. 
A volume has also appeared to recall Presby- 
terians to the fact that, so far is it from the 



372 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



truth, that their polity is essentially inconsis- 
tent with Liturgical worship, the disuse there- 
of is modern. The Dutch Reformed Church 
in Synod assembled has been revising her lit- 
urgy and the discussions indicate growing in- 
terest in it. A Presbyterian Church at Ro- 
chester named St. Peters, has a responsive ser- 
vice. Universalists want a national conven- 
tion to agree on a Liturgy." 

PRIVATE AND SOCIAL WORSHIP. 

Religious devotion belongs first of all to 
the Christian's private duties. The closet can 
never without harm be given up. It belongs 
to the very life of personal religion, that clos- 
et duties be faithfully discharged. A single 
day's neglect here, is more than a day's loss. 

" Enter into thy closet" is the command of 
Christ. The still hour belongs to the private 
Christian. The daily sunshine, the morning 
dews, and the evening repose, all belong to 
the course of nature's life, in the growing 
plant till its flowers bloom and its fruits ap- 
pear, full and ripe. So in animal nature, the 
daily food and drink, as well as the momen- 
tary use of healthy air, make up the life, as 
continuously worn out and wasted. 

Daily food, the soul needs, to mature and 



PRIVATE AND SOCIAL WORSHIP. 373 



keep strong its powers. Cut off from the 
vine for a single day, the branch withers. 
Prevent respiration, and life ebbs out. So 
the soul must be in living union with the 
source of its life. And the provision must 
hold daily, for its exhausting activities. 

"Give us this day, our daily bread," Jesus 
teaches us to pray. The staff of life, is for 
the soul as well as for the body. The form 
of the prayer, requires at least, its daily use. 
Not only prayer, but meditation, self-exami- 
nation, repentance and faith, belong to the 
still hour of the closet's devotion. 

David prayed seven times a day. Daniel 
prayed three times daily, in his private room. 
The offering of the daily morning and even- 
ing sacrifice, is also an indication of the fre- 
quency of the daily duties of devotion. 

Nothing tells so readily against the Chris- 
tian's life and character, as the habitual neg- 
lect of private religious duties. Any one who 
continues to neglect the closet, and personal 
communion with God, in failing to read His 
Word, meditate and pray ; will not long be a 
Christian at all. 

So of the Christian Family. No family 
without a Christian altar, where God is wor- 
shiped in some distinctive sense, can rightly 

32 



374 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



develop the grace of God in the heart and 
life of its members. There must be a priest 
in every family, to officiate at its altar. Fa- 
mily religion is the very atmosphere, in 
which the baptized child is to find health 
and growth. Without it, the moral nature 
is warped and dwarfed. Baptism of infant 
members of the Household loses much of its 
real value, where the nurture of the family is 
not strictly Christian. 

Family worship of some kind, is not only 
necessary, but is generally possible and almost 
everywhere practicable. Where all its parts, 
including the joint family reading of the holy 
Scriptures, explanation of the word, exhorta- 
tion to personal duties, catechization, singing 
and prayer, where all these are not all united 
in full, at least some one, or more, may find 
place and should be observed in every well 
regulated Christian family. It needs some act 
of family religious service in recognition of 
the duty we mortals owe to the God of our 
lives and the Saviour of our souls, as families. 

Social prayer and mutual edification are 
also to be encouraged among the churches. 
The restricted and more social character of 
this kind of worship makes it to differ some- 



PRIVATE AND SOCIAL WORSHIP. 375 



what from the regular service of the Lord's 
House. 

Prayer-meetings have the promise, if there be 
but two or three met together in Christ's 
name. The whole scope of the Christian sys- 
tem, provides especially for the small assem- 
bly. Where two or three are assembled in 
His name, and any two shall agree together, 
as touching one thing, their prayers, as a uni- 
ted petition, has the promise of being answered. 
This side of our gracious privilege, is too of- 
ten overlooked and neglected. 

These meetings may be for particular -occa- 
sions, as at the time Peter was in prison. Or 
they may be stated and regular, where prayer 
is wont to be made. Churches, where they 
are not encouraged, as helps to Christian life, 
are not generally in the best state. 

Because, in these, the freer spirit of religious 
devotion prevails, there is danger of fostering 
fanaticism, and in the end running into the 
deadest formalism. The Reformed Church 
has been more guarded in this direction than ' 
any others. It has led many even to discour- 
age the whole idea of such services. But the 
best things may be abused, and this should not 
be against the right use. 

Weekly lectures are important. They com- 



376 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



bine prayer, praise, reading the word, explana- 
tion, exhortation and general enlivening of 
faith, penitence, and Christian fortitude. 

Sunday Schools must also find place. The 
Catechetical class, so peculiarly belonging to 
the Keformed Church, is the best idea of a Sun- 
day School. It might be claimed that the 
present Sunday School system, is an attempt 
in form at least, to furnish that which our Ee- 
formed fathers used, Only, as copies generally 
have not the excellencies of the original, the 
modern Sunday School left out much that 
was true and good. Their Sunday afternoon 
meetings for the children and youth, were not 
simply to amuse with funny stories, and pic- 
ture papers, without religious truth. The 
prevailing principle of the Sunday School sys- 
tem now is merely negative. It must have 
no religious truth that will offend any shade 
of opinion. Generalities, without positive doc- 
trine, make up far too much of the text-books, 
the teaching and the literature of the modern 
Sunday School system. 

Not so our fathers ; they used the Heidel. 
berg Catechism, taught its doctrines and train- 
ed the children in devotional books to sing and 
pray. This made earnest with the means of 
grace, and the children were saved. Shall we 
restore the system ? 



PREACHING. 



377 



Let it become a handmaid and help to the 
Church, in nurturing and saving the children. 
Let our Sunday Schools restore the Heidelberg 
Catechism to its place of honor and usefulness 
in the children's behalf, and train them also to 
take real part in the worship of God. 

PARTS OF PUBLIC WORSHIP. 

By preaching the Word, and in the use of 
the Holy Sacraments, as shown in the chapter 
on the Means of Grace, the whole world is to 
be made disciples. Here grow up congrega- 
tions which are to be instructed to do all things 
that make for life and godliness. The Chris- 
tian life begun, is to grow up unto salvation. 
While there is no fixed or settled order for the 
observance of Christian cultus divinely re- 
vealed, yet, from the practice of the early 
Church, and the directions of the Holy Apos- 
tles, we can easily determine the parts of di- 
vine worship employed by them. 

PREACHING. 

Most prominent, of course, was the preach- 
ing of the Word. The commission to preach 
the Gospel is a first condition. When the 
Christian life is once awakened, it is required 
to feed that life. By the word of Truth the 

32* 



37« 



CREED AND CUSTOMS, 



Saviour prays the Father to sanctify His dis- 
ciples. This must, therefore, always be pre- 
dominant, not only for calling men to repent- 
ance and conversion, but also for the edifying 
of the congregation itself. It pleased God by 
the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believe. Those who stand fast in this same 
Gospel are saved thereby, if they keep in mem- 
ory what is preached unto them. It is the 
power of God and the wisdom of God unto sal- 
vation. 

Preaching the Gospel is always to be a 
main part of Christian service. No greater 
mistake could be made than that by which 
the Romish Church sets aside, for the most 
part, the preaching of the Word. In exclu- 
sively Papal countries there is little or no 
preaching. Indeed, in this country the Papists 
rarely preach the Gospel. 

It is the glory of our Church that evangel- 
ical service is restored. Never may the day 
come when the Gospel shall be removed from 
the Church, or the pulpit pushed aside. It is 
not secondary to the altar. 

The congregation are taught by God's pro- 
phets to know "the truth." They are in- 
structed in the "Apostles' doctrine," which 
goes before fellowship. The people are here 



READING THE WORD. 



379 



the silent recipients of a refreshing grace that 
flows from the words that are life and spirit, 
which God has sent forth, wdth the sure prom- 
ise that they shall not return unto Him void. 
The word is as seed sown ; some of which falls 
by the wayside, and among thorns, and on 
stony ground ; yet, in hearts of good ground, 
it shall bring forth some thirty, some sixty, 
and some an hundred fold. 

READING THE WORD. 

Divine service includes, of course, also the 
public reading of the Holy Scriptures. St. 
Paul commands and charges the Church of 
Thessalonica, by the Lord J esus, that his epis- 
tle be read unto all the holy brethren. And 
the Colossian Saints and faithful brethren he 
also directs to read, not only his epistle to that 
Church, but also to cause it be read to the 
Church of Laodicea, and that the Laodicean epis- 
tle be read to the Church at Colosse. To Timo- 
thy he declares how profitable is the reading 
of the Bible. Already in the Jewish worship, 
the reading, publicly, of two portions of Scrip- 
ture, one from the law and the other from the 
prophets, for each Sabbath day's service in the 
Synagogue, was a universal custom. This part 
of the Jewish public service was transferred to 



3 8o 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the regular Christian worship now held on the 
Lord's Day, or Sunday. 

This much of the divine service ought to be 
held every Lord's Day in every congregation, 
whether they have regular preaching or not. 
One of the Elders could properly conduct this 
service. And we hesitate not to declare our 
belief that there is more benefit in the reading 
of God's Word publicly, than exclusively in 
private at home for oneself. 

PUBLIC PRAYER. 

Another main part of worship is prayer. 
There can be no devotion without it. There 
is no vital piety without prayer. 

" Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 

The Christian's native air; 
His watchword at the gate of death, 
He enters Heaven with prayer." 

It is plain that the early Christians, in their 
public worship, made this a part of the gen- 
eral service. Besides the example of the J ew- 
ish Synagogue worship, in which the first dis- 
ciples were trained, they had also the example 
as well as the command of Christ Himself to 
engage in this service publicly. People then 
went up to the Temple to pray, as the Pharisee 
and Publican. 



GENERAL PRAISE. 



38l 



Accordingly the whole assembly of the dis- 
ciples engaged in this divine service before the 
giving of the Holy Ghost, (Acts i. 14). Also 
in times of special solemnity ; in appointing 
a successor to Judas in the Apostolic office 
(Acts i. 24); and at the election and ordina- 
tion of Deacons, (iv. 6). They prayed also 
when suffering persecution, (Acts iv. 31) ; 
and when missionaries were to be sent out, 
(xii. 3); at Peters imprisonment, also, (xii. 5) ; 
and at the parting between a pastor and peo- 
ple. (Acts xx. 36). 

Prayer, as you know, is properly that act of 
devotion, in which the worshiping assembly 
adores God, petitions His grace, intercedes for 
His mercy, and gives thanks and praise for 
benefits and blessings already received. 

Prayer is an act of faith, for they that 
thus come to God, must believe that He is 
God. 

GENERAL PRAISE. 

Closely allied to prayer, and partaking 
largely of its character is sacred Song or 
Praise. This comes down also from the Jew- 
ish worship, where the Psalm, either spoken, 
or chanted or sung, held a prominent place. 
We have the example of our Saviour Him- 



3 82 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



self, engaging in singing a hymn with His dis- 
ciples, after the celebration of the Lord's Sup- 
per. Paul also directs in his epistles that the 
Christians of Ephesus and also those of Co- 
lo sse use Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual 
Songs. St. J ames tells those light of heart to 
sing Psalms. 

The ransomed Church is to worship God 
in songs and praises on the earth and in 
heaven. St. J ohn in Revelation tells us, They 
sang a new song, saying Thou art worthy to 
take the book and to open the seals thereof ; 
for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
God by Thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made 
us unto God kings and priests, and we shall 
reign on the earth. 

To this, ten thousand times ten thousand 
and thousands of thousands of angels join 
with loud voices, responding antiphonally and 
saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to 
receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. 
Then all creatures in heaven, earth and sea, 
join with the Church and angels in a universal 
chorus, and swell the song of praise to our 
Redeemer, God, saying, " Blessing and honor, 

AND GLORY AND POWER, BE UNTO HlM THAT SIT- 



THE SACRAMENTS IN WORSHIP. 



TETH UPON THE THRONE, AND UNTO THE LAMB FOR 
EVER AND EVER. 

Here God's people learn to sing His praise ; 
and every congregation shall at last join the 
voice of "much people/' the great multitude, 
as the sound of many waters, m the heavenly 
choir. 

A worshiping congregation without sacred 
song must bring but a poor tribute before the 
throne. Our Christian Era was ushered in 
by the angelic song, a Glory to God in the 
Highest." The church, in her congregational 
service, has taken up the sound. But few can 
raise the notes of the Hosannas and highest 
Hallelujahs, yet the Redeemed of the Lord, 
return to Zion with songs of rejoicing and 
everlasting praise. 

THE SACRAMENTS IN WORSHIP. 

Christian worship culminates in the Sacra- 
ments. In the Holy Supper especially, we 
celebrate the dying love and risen and reign- 
ing glories of our Lord and Saviour. It is 
for the whole congregation, and is to be pub- 
licly observed, to the end of time. 

The early Christians continued steadfast 
" in the breaking of bread." The Church 
" came together" to celebrate this feast. The 



3»4 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Reformed Church has restored it to the con- 
gregation in its primitive simplicity and spirit- 
ual reality. The life once begun, is to be 
nourished into spiritual growth. 

The fruits and culmination of all worship, 
centre, as in the early Church, in the regu- 
lar administration of the Sacraments. In these 
God comes to men and confers grace. 

RENDERING WORSHIP. 

How are sinful worms of the dust to come 
before the Lord ? This concerns us when we 
assemble as worshipers. We may not come 
before Him as the unthinking horse that rush- 
eth into battle, else we may fall upon the 
thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler, 

God's holy Word encourages us to come, and 
in Christ's name, worship before our Maker. 
They that worship Him, must worship in spir- 
it and in truth. The Father seeketh such to 
worship Him. 

All agree, without question, that the condi- 
tion of all worship requires it to be true and 
spiritual. Our Church requires the public 
worship, to consist of Invocation, Singing, 
Prayer, Reading the Word, Preaching, or Lec- 
ture, and Benediction, and on proper occa- 
sions the administration of the Holy Sacra- 



RENDERING WORSHIP. 385 

ments. To this we must add Almsgiving 
and also acts of church discipline ; for that is 
unto God too, and is called for in our Consti- 
tution. 

Believers, partaking of Christ's threefold an- 
ointing, are made prophets, priests and kings. 
They must then have room for the full and free 
exercise of these offices. All these are to be pro- 
vided for in the congregation, which is a type 
of the whole Church. But there are also spe- 
cial offices in the Church, where these still 
more appear, culminating in the order of the 
holy ministry. 

This does not, however, leave all the active 
part of the public worship alone to the minis- 
ter. He is, in an important sense, their repre- 
sentative and mouth-piece and head ; as pro- 
phet to instruct, priest, to offer worship ad- 
minister sacraments, and king or shepherd to 
lead, rule and govern them. But he is not to 
worship by proxy for the whole congregation. 
The members each have a personal part in 
this service. 

The minister is indeed especially to preach 
the word, be instant in season and out of sea- 
son, reprove, rebuke, exhort. He is to admin- 
ister the sacraments to the people. He is also 

to be their guide, to conduct the devotions of 

33 



3 86 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the congregation in their united acts of singing 
and prayer. But he is not to do all the wor- 
shiping himself, while they do nothing. Each 
and all must join the rest. 

The Elders of the congregation are to labor 
with him in word and doctrine, in family visi- 
tation, instructing and exhorting to duty and 
piety. So the whole congregation too, are to 
join also in edifying one another in love ; and 
especially engaging in the spiritual worship of 
God. 

PASSIVE PART. 

In the preaching of the word, the people take 
no active part. They are to be swift to hear, 
receiving the ingrafted word into honest and good 
hearts, so as to bring forth fruit in their daily 
walk and life an hundredfold. This of course 
requires that when the word is preached, they 
ought to attend, and when present, keep their 
eyes and ears open, so as to receive the truth. 
It is the plain duty of all the members to at- 
tend regularly to the ministrations of the word 
of life. 

Beading the word in the church service, is 
of the same order with that of preaching, only 
that the people may use their Bibles and fol- 
low with their ej^es the voice of the reader or 



AUDIBLE PART. 



387 



join alternately with him ant iphon ally. In 
this way they really participate in the service. 
It has the advantage of helping the hearing 
by the sight, so as to reap the best profit from 
that word, which sanctifies the soul, because it 
is the truth. 

Confession on the part of the people is a 
full and hearty assent to the Creed, the for- 
mula of faith which the Church furnishes 
them. This is especially required, at Baptism, 
Confirmation, and in the Lord^s Supper. 
Besides these, at the regular service, confession 
of faith is always implied, by every act of 
prayer and praise — though it may not always 
be in a given form. 

AUDIBLE PART. 

In prayer and praise the people have a more 
especial part to take actively and audibly. 
We know that the bulk of many congregations 
never by any motion or sound show that they 
have any part or lot in worship. The preacher 
is to give them, besides his fine discourse, an 
eloquent prayer, to which they sit, or lounge, 
and listen. And not content to pray by proxy, 
they hire a committee of four singers and an 
organist to do their praising also for them, how- 
ever unfit in heart these are, to take part in 



3 88 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



God's service. This is more artistic, than if 
it were offered from voices not quite so finely 
tuned, but may it not be an abomination to the 
Lord? 

God's whole people should join in His praise. 
Let all the people praise Thee, (Ps. lxvii. 3). 
And all the people said Amen, and praised the 
Lord. (1 Chron. xvi. 36). Oh praise the Lord 
all ye nations ; praise Him all ye people. 
(Ps. cxvii. 1). Sing unto the Lord a new song, 
and His praise m the congregation of His 
Saints. (Ps. cxlix, 1). Let everything that 
hath breath praise the Lord. (Ps. cl. 6). 

There is much in prayer that is also praise ; 
and there is much m the songs of Zion that is 
prayer. These two parts may be treated to- 
gether. As all the people are confessedly to 
take part in the praises of God, so are they no 
less to join in the prayers. In those acts of 
worship of the disciples, (recorded in Acts i. 
14, iv. 24, 30, &c.,) it would seem that their 
"one accord," and "one voice," indicates uni- 
ted prayer in the form of sacred chant or praise. 
Certain it is, that they all responded to the 
prayers a hearty Amen. (1 Cor. xiv. 16). St. 
Paul clearly provides for it, even for the un- 
learned. This practice was inherited from 
the old Jewish worship. And it is to make 



AUDIBLE PART. 



389 



part of the heavenly service of the redeemed, 
as we learn in the Revelation of St. John, 

If, then, it existed in the practice of the old 
economy, and will continue in Heaven, it is 
not too much to expect and require it in the 
Church now. 

The congregation should, therefore, take a 
formal, and active, and audible part in prayer 
and praise, especially the Lord's Prayer, the 
Creed, and general Amen, All things must be 
done decently and in order ; hence there must 
be some common form of prayers, as well as 
the psalm or hymn of praise, for each cannot 
make his own from the heart. When possible, 
there should be a united form of worship, in 
which all the congregation can join. Each 
one may not sing a different tune with self- 
composed verses. That would be confusion. 
There must, therefore, be a book of such 
Psalms and Hymns as are suitable for the 
public devotions of the Church. 

In the use of these, the individual believer's 
soul is warmed and refreshed, while he joins 
in the voice of the whole congregation. Each 
should have a hymn book, and sing; just as 
each should have a Bible, to read the word. 
For the same reasons they need a prayer book, 
to pray. 

33* 



39° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS, 



What is thus true for singing the spiritual 
praises of God, is no less true for praying spir- 
itually in the public congregational service. 
All cannot pray self-composed impromptu pray- 
ers, any more than they can make their own 
hymns. Nor can they respond the congrega- 
tional Amen, (1 Cor. xiv. 16) ; nor lift up 
their voices with one accord, (Acts iv. 24) ; 
nor " speak the same thing," (1 Cor. i. 10) ; 
nor " pray with one accord," (Acts i. 4) ; 
nor with "one mouth glorify God." (Rom. xv. 
6,) unless some form in common use is pre- 
pared for them by the Church to pray and 
confess. 

PLAIN CONCLUSION. 

No one's devotion is hindered or cramped, or 
made formal, or hypocritical and without true 
spiritual life, in singing forms of Hymns and 
Psalms. Spiritual worship is promoted and 
pious devotion fed, by the use of prepared 
forms of hymns and sacred poetry and even 
set tunes to regulate our voices. So, it is not 
more likely to be a hinderance to true spiritual 
prayer of the heart, to be taught to pray after 
a form. 

Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs 
worshiped God, " in spirit and in truth." John 



PLAIN CONCLUSION. 



39 1 



the Baptist, a real revival preacher, taught his 
disciples to pray. Luke xi. 1. And Christ, for 
whose kingdom John prepared the way by his 
revival efforts, moved by the example of John 
at the request of His disciples, taught them 
by a form to pray. " After this manner pray 
ye." Matt. vi. 9. "When ye pray say, Our 
Father," &c. Luke xi. 2. 

The Apostolic and early Church beyond all 
possible doubt, led by the Spirit, used forms 
of prayer, praise and confession, and response. 
Their Liturgical worship was cast in Scrip- 
ture mould. They had general prayer, praise, 
selected parts of Scripture for reading, confes- 
sion for Baptism, and an order for celebrating 
the Lord's Supper. " A liturgy and set forms 
of prayer," says Bingham, (Book xiii. c. 5,) 
"were used from the beginning; before they 
were committed to writing, they were repeat- 
ed from memory." 

With the use of a Liturgy (7&vtov%yucL> peo- 
ple Worship), the service can be regulated. 
All can join in the worship, who should take 
active part in it. Its scriptural devotion feeds 
the soul, not only in the reading of the word, 
but also in the singing and in the prayers. It 
is not a sin to "say one's prayers," from forms 



39 2 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



at hand ; rather than "to make" them fresh 
when offered. 

Liturgical service may be as spiritual and 
more heartily real, than that more barren and 
equally formal practice, in which all is left to 
the subjective condition of the worshiper 
without a guide or help. These services are 
only of great account to the people, in propor- 
tion as they join truly in them. The liturgy 
is for the people quite as much as the Bible 
and Hymn-book. 

The saints of all ages join in the harmony 
of heavenly praise. No less may all the faith- 
ful in the form of sound words, confess always 
one Faith, one Baptism, one Lord, one God 
and Father of all. They may daily, and 
weekly pray after the forms of liturgical ser- 
vice, especially our Lord's Prayer, without 
being charged with formalism. Jesus in the 
most solemn hour of His life, prayed the same 
form three times. 

Beloved ! endeavor to cultivate piety and 
Christian devotion ! When God's holy Word 
is j3reached, let it be heard as a voice from 
heaven, in the lively oracles of God. When 
it is read and expounded, take it to heart. 

When the song of praise goes up, may it 
bear on our poor notes, the offerings of our 



PLAIN CONCLUSION. 



393 



hearts before the throne on high ! And when 
the voice of prayer ascends, may our hearts 
and tongues join, as with "one accord" and 
"cne voice" in sincere confession of our Chris- 
tian Creed, and in the ''Amen" of the con- 
gregation. Let all bring a suitable service 
and oblation before the throne of the Majesty 
on High. In our worship angels and saints, 
martyrs and confessors, the whole Church in 
heaven joins with the Church on earth. A 
becoming service of the Church on earth 
unites us with the Church above. 

" Lord, how delightful 'tis to see 
A whole assembly worship Thee; 
At once they sing, at once they pray, 
They hear of heaven, and learn the way !'* 




I 



CHAPTER XIII. 



CHURCH FESTIVALS : HOLY DAYS. 

OUR custom observes the main Festivals 
and Holy days of the Christian Church. 
Leaving out the Saints' days, the main 
reference has been to the principal Christian 
facts celebrated by Christmas, Good Friday, 
Easter, the Ascension, Whitsuntide, and the 
Holy Trinity. 

The whole Church Year is involved; though 
the degree of fullness in its observance is 
not well settled in our Church. The liturgy, so 
far as that has been restored, groups the whole 
year in the four seasons of Christmas, Easter, 
Pentecost, and Trinity. 

Beginning with Advent, four Sundays be- 
fore Christmas, we have the Nativity, the 
Circumcision, or New Years day, and the 
Epiphany, or Christ's manifestation to the 
Gentiles. 

Easter is preceded by the Forty days' fast, 
in imitation of Christ's fasting in the wilder- 
394 



CHRISTMAS. 



395 



ness. This is called Lent, or the Spring sea- 
son ; and begins with Ash- Wednesday, which 
is forty days before Easter, counting out the 
intervening Sundays, which are never fast 
days, from the nature of the fact which Sunday 
itself commemorates. 

Culminating in the Solemn Fast of Good 
Friday, this sorrowful season, ends with the 
joyful morning of Easter Sunday. Jesus 
brought life and immortality to light 5 and the 
Christian's time of sorrow, therefore, has this 
pledge and assurance that it shall end in the 
triumphant glories of the Resurrection. 

Pentecost follows close upon the Festival of 
the Ascension of Christ from earth to heaven, 
which falls ten days before Whitsunday; 
when the Holy Ghost was given and the 
Church was new-born. 

From Trinity, falling the next Sunday after 
Pentecost, till the return of Advent, comes 
the Church season, numbered by the Sundays 
' ; after Trinity," and devoted to the practical 
truths, flowing from the doctrines brought out 
in the previous part of the Church Year. 

CHRISTMAS. 

Our Christmas Festival comes down to us 
'from the Church of the Second Century. At 



39 6 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



first it was celebrated on the 6th of January, 
but since the Fourth Century it has been, as 
it now is, celebrated on the 25th day of De- 
cember of each year. 

Many of the fathers doubted the proof given 
for the day named, as that on which the event 
which it celebrates actually occurred. It is in 
honor of our Saviour's Nativity. The Chris- 
tian era itself, or the exact year of it, has not 
been determined beyond controversy ; this era 
having only come into general use in the Sixth 
Century. (A. D. 532). 

Saint Chrysostom considered it "the most 
venerable, the most astonishing of festivals ; 
the fountain whence the other great festivals 
flowed ; for had Christ not been born, He would 
not have been baptized, which is the Epiph- 
any ; He would not have been crucified, which 
is the Passover ; He would not have sent down 
the Spirit, which is Pentecost. But not only 
on that account is this Festival worthy of pre- 
eminence, but because what happened upon it 
is more astonishing than what happened upon 
the others ; for that Christ should die, was a 
natural consequence of His having been born 
a man ; for though He did no sin, yet He had ! 
assumed a mortal body ; but that being God, 
He should be willing to become a man, and 



CHRISTMAS. 



397 



endure to humble Himself to a degree which 
thought cannot follow, is most awful, most full 
of amazement." 

Most glad and glorious is this Festival. Its 
record is marked with the glory of the Lord, 
which shined out of Heaven on that quiet night 
upon the plains of Bethlehem; where those 
humble shepherds were abiding in the fields, 
keeping watch over their sleeping flocks. Such 
glorious wonders made their simple hearts 
afraid. But the angel of the Lord was sent 
with a message of glad tidings, which changed 
their terror into highest joy. 

Fear not ! the Heavenly visitant calls to 
them, out of the excellent glory that the Lord 
had poured upon the earth around them, 
"Fear not ; for behold I bring you good tidings 
of great joy, w^hich shall be to all people." 
There is no cause for alarm, "for unto you is 
born this day, in the City of David, a Saviour; 
which is Christ, the Lord." Thus came the 
Gospel's glad tidings of good news to the world, 
by the angel herald from Heaven. 

Whalr greater world-fact is there in history 
than this grand centre, around which all of 
human hopes revolve ? Let it, then, be held 
in sacred honor by Christians. 

Heaven and earth unite in the songs of har- 



398 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



monious praise. Saints and Angels join in 
the glorious concert of our Christmas Festival. 

" Angels from the realms of glory, 

Wing your flight o'er all the earth ; 
Ye, who sang creation's story, 

Now proclaim Messiah's birth. 

vL- *J> *4>* vU- vL^ vt- 

>T* «T* "v* *T* *T* 

" Hail ! Hail auspicious morn ! 

The Saviour Christ is born ! 
Such was the immortal Seraph's song sublime ; 

' Glory to God in Heaven, 

To man sweet peace is given/ 
Sweet peace and friendship to the end of time." 

CHRISTMAS GIFTS. 

The custom of bestowing gifts on the Christ- 
mas Festival, now coming more and more into 
general use, is of very ancient origin. It is a 
befitting memorial of the Great Gift of God — 
the Gift of gifts. 

To us a Child is born; to us a Son is given. 

"the glorious gift a of God, 

To sinners weary and distressed; 
The first of all His gifts bestowed, 
And certain pledge of all the rest." 

Probably very few of all the multitude, who 

thoughtlessly exchange gifts in this general gift 
season, know its sacred meaning ; or whether 
it have any meaning. It is, indeed, quite 
probable, that in the minds of the many, it is 



CHRISTMAS GIFTS. 



399 



only a custom ; from which, because it is grow- 
ing common, the rules of the world will not let 
them depart. 

The wise men from the East, when they had 
been divinely led to the place where the Christ 
Child was born, gave Him gifts. They opened 
their treasures and presented unto Him pre- 
cious gifts — Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. 
This is the first Christmas gift. 

W e have from this hint the common Church 
custom of owning in some way the great gift 
of God to us, out of our devout gratitude of- 
fering Christmas gifts in His name. This cus- 
tom is, therefore, founded on an act of the 
most earnest religious worship. One of the 
least of Christ's own brethren may represent 
Him as an object to receive such gifts. If 
giving to the poor, be lending to the Lord, 
then it is easy to see that our gifts should not 
be confined to our rich friends, who generally 
have them lavishly bestowed ; but the Lord's 
poor should not be forgotten in their humble 
right to share in the blessings of Christmas. 

Keeping this custom in Christian families, 
will make all, if the true spirit be thrown into 
the usage, have real and personal interest in 
this season. The gift season is one of reli- 
gious, festive joy, one of merry, happy, glad- 



400 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



some pleasure. Older hearts become child- 
like here ao;ain, and all breasts swell brimful 
of this sacred season. 

Christ-mass, the Christ-worship-day, is the 
Christian's thanksgiving, in a sense, which the 
Puritanic civil thanksgiving-day set apart by 
State proclamations in which the name of 
Christ is never even once mentioned, can 
never reach. As the whole multitude of God's 
gifts and blessings to our world, flow from this 
primary Gift of His Son ; so here in this 
Christian festival, may the whole Church be- 
fittingly acknowledge them, and raise notes of 
thanksgiving and praise to God. 

Jesus born, our Saviour, is this day the 
fullness of Good tidings "to you and to all 
people." It is the joy of the whole earth ; the 
desire of all nations ; and the pledge of grace 
and mercy. For if God spared not His own 
Son, but freely gave Him for us all, will He 
not much more with Him also give us all 
things ? In return we can only give Him our 
hearts. 

Only when Christmas gifts refer with thank- 
ful devotion, to the Gift of Christ to sinners, 
can they have any true and proper signifi- 
cance. Let the Christian, as the child of God, 
have his joy. 



THE GIVER AND THE GIFT. 



But evil subverts the good. The wicked 
caricature, mocking the goodness of God, 
turns the religious devotion intended in the 
true Christmas-gift, to a worldly mimicry and 
devil service. There is something shocking in 
the representation of the gift bestowing Krist- 
Kindlein, or Christ-Child, as the "belsnickel" or 
the evil spirit counterfeiting the gifts of God. 

THE GIVER AND THE GIFT. 

" Say, shall we yield Him in costly devotion, 

Odors of Edom, and oif'rings divine ; 
Gems from the mountain, and pearls from the ocean, 

Myrrh from the forest, and gold from the mine ? 
Vainly we offer each ample oblation, 

Vainly with gold would His favor secure ; 
Richer, by far, is the heart's adoration, 

Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor." 

While we worship the Giver of our Christ- 
mas joy in sacred thanksgiving, we may also 
adore the Gift. Christ, anointed of God, to 
be the Prophet, the Priest, and the King of 
the world, is born an humble babe in human 
flesh. He comes truly from the royal family 
of David, and is born in his native City. But 
this royalty outwardly had run so low that 
the lineal offspring of the kingly sire found no 
room in the inn, and had no place but a man- 
ger to receive Him, Christ, the Lord ! 

34* 



402 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The Lord of lords, and King of kings, hum- 
bled Himself for the sake of redeeming His 
people ; so that from the lowest strata of hu- 
man life, He might be able to exalt all who 
truly, in His appointed way, partake of His 
life. 

He came to be a Prince and a Saviour for 
the whole world. The lowly babe of Bethle- 
hem is the mighty Lord of Heaven and earth. 
Here the Mystery of the Incarnation appears 
in all its divine glory. Behold Him ! the babe 
of the manger ! 

" Babe of weakness, can it be, 

That the earth's great victory, 
Is to be achieved by Thee? 

Child of poverty, art Thou 
He, to whom all Heaven shall bow, 

And all earth shall pay the vow ? " 

It is well for the world that the Church has 
ever had occasion for these festivals of Christ- 
mas worship. May all mortals catch the 
sounds of the angelic chorus, hymning " Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace good 
will to men." Since the angels have gone 
away into Heaven again, we may with the 
shepherds at least, go even now to Bethlehem, 
and see this thing which the Lord has made 
known unto us. 



LENT. 



4°3 



"Christ is born, the great Anointed, 
Heaven and earth His praises sing ; 

Oh! receive whom God appointed 
For your Prophet, Priest, and King." 

"Hasten, mortals, to adore Him, 
Learn His name and taste His joy; 

Till in Heaven ye sing before Him, 
Glory be to God most high." 

With right then, does our Reformed Church 
hold in honor the great fact of the Incarnation 
in the Christmas Festival. The barrenness of 
all false Puritanic spiritualism, that has no 
real heart for such services and no mind for 
such ideas, can never commend itself as a supe- 
rior system to the Reformed Church. Christ- 
mas is too much a real part of Christianity, 
lies too near the core doctrine, the Incarna- 
tion, God manifest in the flesh, and ministers 
too much to the pious joys of believers, ever 
to be blotted out of our calendar. 

LENT. 

The Easter season begins with what is called 
Lent. It is so called from an old word which 
means Spring-tide or Spring time. Ash- Wed- 
nesday is the first day of Lent. This day 
takes its name from an old custom of using 
ashes, to remind people that their frail bodies 
will die and return to dust and ashes. 



404 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The time of Lent is set aside by the Church 
for special fasting and prayer. It lasts from 
Ash- Wednesday forty days, besides the six 
Sundays which are not fast days, till Easter. 
It is to remind us of the forty days' fasting and 
trials of Jesus in the desert. Fasting and 
prayer, self-denial and penitence, our Lord 
commends as Christian duty. Some kinds of 
sin can only be cast out by prayer and fasting. 

In this season of the year all persons ought 
to be truly sorry for their sins and confess 
them, and pray to God for Jesus' sake to par- 
don them. It is a duty to live a holy life at 
all times ; yet, as we have Sundays for special 
worship, so we may have set times for hard 
duties. Let us try, by self-denial, to do some- 
thing for the sake of Jesus, who has done so 
much for us. 

HOLY WEEK. 

Palm Sunday begins Holy week, just before 
Easter, to remind us of the extreme sufferings 
of our Saviour. 

Six days before the feast, He entered into 
Jerusalem in triumph, hailed by the multitude 
as the King of Zion. The children sang IIo- 
sanna to the Son of David. They carried 
palm-branches, signs of victory, and spread 



HOLY WEEK. 



405 



tliem in the way. Soon after the people cried, 
•'Away with Him ! Crucify Him !" 

Daring this whole week we ought to hear, 
day by day, the story of our Saviour s suffer- 
ings. In the solemn litany, we call our souls 
to sorrow and watching with our suffering 
Saviour. 

On Thursday before Easter we call to mind 
that the Lord Jesus ate the last supper with 
His disciples ; and He also instituted the Holy 
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; which His 
disciples are to keep in honor until He comes 
again. 

On Fridav, the Son of God suffered the slow 
and shameful death of the cross. It is called 
Good Friday, because He thus bought for us 
all the good we can have in this world and in 
the next. 

Then all the silent Saturday, or what was 
then the Jewish Sabbath, He lay in the tomb. 
His solemn rest sanctifies the grave. 

" Pain and toil are over now, 

Bring the spice and bring the myrrh, 

Fold the limbs and bind the brow, 
In the rich man's sepulchre; 

There within the garden gloom 

Leave Him in His new-made tomb.'* 

Easter morning brings joy, and glory, and 
triumph in our risen Lord. Christ is risen in- 



406 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



deed ; and this is the central truth of our Gos- 
pel. The day that marks this truth, gives 
tone to all other days. Easter Sunday maizes 
all other Sundays, and changes the old Sab- 
baths, so that we now keep the Lord's day in- 
stead of the Sabbath. 

The long fast season of Lent is now swal- 
lowed up in the joyful festival, that points 
from death to the glorious resurrection. 

GOOD FRIDAY. 

Lo, at noon 'tis sudden night, 

Darkness covers all the sky ! 
Rocks are rending at the sight 

Jesus dies at Calvary ! 

Nail'd upon the cross, behold 
How His tender limbs arc torn ! 

See, the blood is falling fast 

From His forehead and His side ! 
Hark ! He now has breathed His last, 

With a mighty groan He died ! 

Millions of Christians keep Good Friday, 
as the day on which Jesus "was crucified, 
dead and buried.'' The Church sets apart a 
special day to remind us of the great suffer- 
ings our blessed Saviour endured for us, that 
we might be set free from the misery of sin 
and death. 

He was betrayed by one of His own disci- 
ples; was taken prisoner as a transgressor, 
was mocked and cruelly treated before His 



GOOD FRIDAY. 



407 



judges. He was scourged, stricken and smit- 
ten, and crowned with thorns ; was falsely con- 
demned, and led away to be put to a shame- 
ful death. He was nailed to the cross ; was 
pierced in His side with a spear ; hung bleed- 
ing three dreadful hours in pain, amid hellish 
anguish and bitter taunts — and then died ! 
Our Lord, the Son of God, our Saviour, was 
crucified, suffered even death on a cross, the 
most cruel pains. 

In the judgment hall, the mock crown of 
thorns gored His holy head, until the crimson 
drops of sinless blood roll down His temples 
and fall down upon the floor. They scourge 
His back, till His garments are clotted with 
the gory tide that flows from the stripes by 
which we are healed. Weakened by this loss 
of blood He is led away bearing His cross, till 
He faints on the way to Calvary. Then they 
nail His hands and feet to the cross-wood, and 
blood spouts from the dumb mouths of the 
wounds. The last blood that is left in His 
body, is let out by the spear that pierced His 
holy side. This was all for us, who have 
sinned. For, without the shedding of blood, 
there is no remission of sin. 

All this, that we, guilty sinners need not 
suffer, but might have life, by His death for 
our sins. Oh, wondrous grace and love ! 



408 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Well may we call that day " Good Friday/' 
on which such great blessings were brought 
to us by the suffering Saviour. The day of 
the crucifixion finished the work of Christ's 
redeeming love. 

It comes on the Friday in Easter-week. It 
was at the time of the Jewish feast of the 
Passover. This was kept in the Spring of 
the year. This festival was regulated by the 
moon, so that it was not always at the same 
time in the year. 

On Good Friday, then, we commemorate 
our blessed Saviours crucifixion, death and 
burial. He thus became the Passover Lamb, 
slain from the foundation of the world — the 
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of 
the world. His blood was shed for sinners. 
Good Friday is stained with sin's foulest deed 
of blood ! 

The cross, the cruel whip, the crown of 
thorns, the nails, the hammer, the soldier's 
spear, the sponge on a reed, and the ladder to 
take down the dead body, — all these things 
are fit emblems on the stained glass of Church 
windows to remind us of what our dear Lord 
suffered and bore for our sins. 

EASTER SUNDAY. 

Easter is the time the Church has set apart 

i 



EASTER SUNDAY. 



409 



for celebrating our Saviour s Resurrection 
from the dead. 

He is the first fruits from the dead. All 
that believe in Him shall be also raised up 
after they die, in His likeness. He who was 
once dead will die no more. He is alive for- 
evermore. If His Spirit dwell in us, He will 
also raise to life our mortal bodies. This is a 
glorious hope. 

Easter Sunday is the most important Sun- 
day in the whole year. It is just because we 
have an Easter Sunday, that we have any 
Sunday at all. Otherwise we would have to 
keep the Jewish Sabbath, instead of the Chris- 
tian Lord's day. It is not possible to keep 
any Sunday aright, if we do not care for East- 
er. Some good people disregard all Church 
festivals, such as Christmas, Easter and Whit- 
suntide. And yet these have strict observ- 
ances for the Sabbath, by which name they 
call the Lord's day. 

This spirit had crept into our Church, and 
was fast stealing the hearts of our members 
from the good old customs of our Reformed 
fathers. As long as we keep Easter, we have 
a good reason for keeping every Sunday. 

To-day He rose and left the dead, 

And Satan's empire fell ; 
To-day the saints Hi3 triumphs spread 

And all His wonders tell. 

35 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The Sabbath is not Sunday ; and our Sun- 
day is not Sabbath. 

Sunday is the first day of the week ; the 
Sabbath was the seventh day of the week. 
Sabbath was the Jews' day, to be kept strict- 
ly holy, to celebrate the rest of God from crea- 
tion's work. The Sabbath is yet strictly a 
Jewish day. 

Sunday is the Christian's day for holding 
in honor the glorious fact of the Resurrection 
of our Lord Jesus from the dead. This per- 
petual celebration of the central fact of Chris- 
tianity, comes down to us from the days of 
the holy Apostles. Under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit they changed " keeping holy the 
Sabbath day," with all the sacredness of the 
seventh day, from its sad Jewish rigor, fast- 
ing and physical rest, into the first day of the 
week, or Lord's Day, the Christian festival on 
which Jesus arose. 

The character of the two days, the Jew's 
Sabbath, and the Christian's Sunday, very 
widely differs. The Sunday of every week 
steadily recalls the bright glories of Easter 
morning, when our risen Lord came forth from 
the dark and gloomy tomb to live forever. 

So it is called the Lord's Day, on which 
Christians; with hallowed prayer and praise, 



EASTER SUNDAY. 



411 



in true festival joy, keep holiday from com- 
mon labor, and engage in joyous religious wor- 
ship. St. John was "in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day," when the Revelation was made 
to him. So the Apostles met together regu- 
larly to break bread, on " the first day of the 
week," not on the Sabbath, the seventh day. 
The day on which J esus arose from the dead, 
He further honors to the joy and peace of His 
disciples, by appearing to them, several times 
successively, on the return of the same day 
of the week. So too, St. Paul gives directions 
to the Corinthians to take up collections, when 
they come together for religious services " on 
the first day of the week." Their main ser- 
vice was always held on Sunday, not on the 
Sabbath. 

The holy Apostles and Evangelists never 
call the first day of the week, Sabbath. They 
always apply that name, when they use it, to 
the Jews seventh day, that is to Saturday. 

We, of the Reformed Church, keep the 
First day of the week, the Lord's day, that is, 
Sunday ; and not the seventh day, the Sab- 
bath, that is, Saturday. We have, however, 
been very much be-sabbathed. Under the in- 
fluence of Puritanism, we get to use the term 
till we lose what is distinctively Christian. 
Some of our ministers make their appoint- 



412 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



ments, to preach and celebrate the Lord's Sup- 
per, on next Sabbath. Our children are to go 
to Sabbath School, which is, always held on 
Sunday, not on Saturday, the Sabbath. In a 
short notice in one of our Church Papers, not 
over a quarter of a column in length, we read 
about the Sabbath School nine times over, and 
never once is it called by its right name ! 

In some communities it is not considered 
quite pious or orthodox to say Sunday, rather 
than "Sabbath." But we have yet to learn, 
that to " Judaize " our Lord's day into Sabbath, 
unless we go ta the trouble to call it Christian 
Sabbath, is a whit more in accordance with 
the spirit of Christianity than the Seventh day 
men, or than the heathen's Sunday, now con- 
verted to the use of the Church ; which is in 
fact, as well as in spirit, the Lord's day. Our 
Sunday is the day of the Sun of Righteousness. 
When we say " Sunday," it is the first day of 
the week, the Lord's day. But when we say 
"Sabbath," it is the seventh day, or Saturday. 
We hold our Sunday Schools and main reli- 
gious services of the Church, not on Saturday, 
but on Sunday ; which reminds us of the resur- 
rection of our Lord Jesus Christ. (See Ques. 
57, Heid. Cat.) 

Our Saviour ascended from earth to heaven 



ASCENSION THURSDAY. 413 

forty days after He arose from the dead. Forty 
days from Easter Sunday comes Ascension 
Day. 

ASCENSION THURSDAY. 

This day is kept in memory of Christ's ascen- 
sion to heaven, where he is now, our Advocate 
and Friend. The churches "in old times'' 
were all open for divine worship on that day. 
(Heid. Cat., Qaes. 46.) 

Jesus led His disciples out as far as the 
Mount of Olives; and there, while blessing 
them, He ascended and a cloud received Him 
out of sight. And two angels came to tell the 
disciples that He was gone into heaven. Saint 
Stephen afterward saw Him sitting at the right 
hand of God, our Father. There He lives to 
send blessings down to His people, till He shall 
come again to judge the world at the last day. 

"We have a promise left by our Saviour be- 
fore He went up, that He will bless us more 
by being in heaven, than if he had remained 
on earth. He sends the Holy Spirit to corn- 
fort us, to teach us the truth, and to lead us 
in the way of life and peace. 

Heaven is now the home of our redeemed 
human nature. Jesus is there in glory. So 
shall all His true disciples be there also, with 

35* 



4H 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Him. Many mansions in our Father's house 
He will have ready for us, if we follow Him in 
faith and love. 

' Lord, Thy faithful servants see, * 
Ever gazing up to Thee; 
Ever upward let us move, 
Wafted on the wings of love ; 
Looking when our Lord shall come, 
Looking for a happier home. 
There we shall with Thee remain, 
Partners of Thy endless reign ; 
There Thy face unclouded see, 
Find a heaven of heavens in Thee." 

WHITSUNTIDE. 

Whitsuntide is White Sunday. This name 
was given to the day because the young mem- 
bers of the Church, who were baptized and 
confirmed, were dressed in white to celebrate 
their first communion. According to this cus- 
tom the Church celebrates this day to mark 
the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. Whitsun- 
tide is the same as the Day of Pentecost. It 
is just fifty days after Easter, or the resurrec- 
tion of our blessed Lord. 

Before this, the Holy Ghost was not given, 
for Jesus was not yet glorified. The coming 
of the Holy Ghost fulfilled the whole plan of 
divine grace. The blessed Comforter, even the 
Spirit of Truth, sent from the Father by the 
Son, is now ever present with our Lord's 



WHITSUNTIDE. 



415 



Church. So the Saviour keeps His promise, 
"Lo I am with you always, to the end of the 
world." 

Ten days after the Ascension, the Holy Ghost 
was given. The Jewish feast of Pentecost kept 
the day that the law was given at Mount Sinai. 

Whitsunday fulfilled the promise of our Sa- 
viour to His waiting disciples; that they should 
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days 
after He left them. The promised Comforter, 
which is the Holy Spirit, came upon them as 
they were together on the morning of Pente- 
cost. A sound as of a rushing mighty wind 
filled the whole place where the disciples were 
met to pray. 

Then cloven tongues of fire rested upon them. 
They were filled w T ith the Holy Ghost, and be- 
gan to speak in all languages used by those 
who were at the feast at Jerusalem. (See Ques. 
53, Heid. Cat.) 

The Holy Spirit is now present in the means 
of grace in the Church. By His power we are 
born again, and made new creatures. The 
emblem of holiness is pure white. So the con- 
verts and catechumens wore white clothes 
when they were baptized and confirmed. On 
this day it was the custom, more than any 



416 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



other, to receive them into the full communion 
of the Church. 

It is well to keep such a holy day in the 
year, to remind us of the blessings brought to 
us by the Holy Ghost, by whose power we are 
born again unto God. It may be a white day 
every year of our Lord's grace. The white 
dress of the young members of the Church is 
the symbol of the purity of the new born soul, 
by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

Putting off the old man and putting on the 
new, as the apostle exhorts, which after God 
is created in true holiness, is now our privilege 
and duty. Clothed upon with the pure white 
robe of Christ's righteousness is the soul's Whit- 
suntide dress. That is the wedding garment 
which the King provides for every guest in- 
vited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. If 
any have not this on, it is not because there 
was none for them, but because they would 
not be clothed in it. 

TRINITY SUNDAY. 

The Sunday after Whitsuntide is called 
Trinity Sunday. It is set apart by the Church 
for the purpose of solemn and special worship, 
to remind us of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. 

The Church service on this day honors the 



THE DOXOLOGY. 



417 



" Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three per- 
sons and one God." In this centres all our 
faith; for the Father created us, the Son re- 
deemed us, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us. 
(Heid. Cat., Ques. 25.) 

The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy 
Spirit is God ; and these three are one. The 
Father is not the Son ; the Son is not the 
Spirit; the Spirit is not the Father. "Such 
as is the Father, such is the Son, and such is 
the Holy Ghost." One God, Triune; Unity 
in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity. 

In the Sundays from Trinity to Advent we 
are to practice Christian graces and duties ; as 
before this we learned truth and doctrine. 

May the God of all peace, who sent down 
the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, to be 
forever with the Church, give us the Spirit to 
renew, enlighten, comfort, and purify our souls 
unto everlasting life, through Jesus Christ. 

THE DOXOLOGY. 

Growing out of the festival worship of Trin- 
ity Sunday, we have the Doxology. The sing- 
ing of the Doxology is an act of the wdiole peo- 
ple in the most solemn part of the public wor- 
ship of God. It is a renewed confession of the 
Holy Trinity. The Doxology is, therefore, a 



4i8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



solemn offering of praise to God, in the name 
of the Holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost. This witness our Reformed Church 
bears steadily in her regular use of the Dox- 
ology and Benediction. 

In many other churches it is not used at all; 
or if it be, it is only the signal for the people 
all to begin making ready to leave the church. 
People not well trained in their ideas of wor- 
ship, during the offering of the Doxology and 
the receiving of the Benediction, begin to put 
on their gloves, fix their shawls and ribbons, 
draw on overshoes, overcoats, and get their 
hats. But persons who know the sacred mean- 
ing of this service will devoutly join in hymn- 
ing the solemn praise of the Holy Trinity, and 
then reverently wait to receive from God, by 
the mouth of His ordained minister, His holy 
Benediction. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



GOOD WORKS IN THE CHURCH. 

EVERY Christian holds personal relation to 
Christ, through His body, the Church. 
This comes to each particular member in 
the congregation to which such person be- 
longs. 

As Christianity is life, its powers in every 
member must appear in activities, growth, and 
fruit. The relation between Christ and be- 
lievers is reciprocal. The believer receives 
divine blessings and benefits ; and Christ ac- 
cepts our faith and good works. Christ bestows 
grace, and receives our worship ; believers re- 
ceive the gifts of God, and return a life service. 

Disciples of our Lord enjoy the means of 
grace ; and they are to bring forth the fruits 
of righteousness in the good works of Faith. 

Good works, our Catechism teaches us, (Ques. 
91), are " Those only which are done from true 
faith, according to the law of God, for His 
glory ; and not such as rest on our own opin- 

4*9 



420 



CREED AND CUSTOMS, 



ion, or the commandments of men." This in- 
cludes the work of true repentance and conver- 
sion, in "the dying of the old man and the 
quickening of the new." Having a "heart- 
felt sorrow for sin/' we hate and turn from it 
always more and more ; and " heartfelt joy in 
God/' we take delight in living according to 
the will of God in ail good works. 

Our redemption from our misery, is by grace 
through Christ without any merit of ours, yet 
we are to do good works; "Because Christ, hav- 
ing redeemed us by His blood, renews us also 
by His Holy Spirit after His own image, that 
with our whole life we may show ourselves 
thankful to God for His blessings, and that He 
may he glorified through us ; then also, that we 
ourselves may be assured of our faith by the 
fruits thereof, and by our godly walk, may win 
others also to Christ." (Heid. Cat. Ques. 86). 

The duty of letting our light so shine before 
men, that others, seeing our good works, may 
glorify our Father in heaven, is enjoined in 
the Gospel. The divine life that is in the 
Christian becomes the light of the world, and 
is also the salt of the earth. 

No Christian may, therefore, cover his light 
with a bushel. We cannot live, each one for 
himself. True Christianity holding personally 



DUTIES IN THE CONGREGATION. 421 

to Christ, is to unfold itself in the Communion 
of Saints. 

Christians must be church-members. And 
ail church-members find themselves resting 
in the general life of Christianity. 

Duties rest first, of course, in the congrega- 
tion of which the several members form a 
part. There is a great lack of proper service 
on the part of church-members, 

DUTIES IN THE CONGREGATION. 

If all the members of the Church knew 
their duties, and discharged them, there is no 
congregation so small, that would not become 
a mighty power for good. In the faithful dis- 
charge of duty, is the success of any church. 
When all are alive and awake to the calls of 
duty, the Church prospers. 

Some seem to feel and act, as if the whole 
work of the congregation belonged to the 
minister. He is, however, only ordained to 
labor in w r ord and doctrine, to be a pastor, to 
lead the flock, to be an overseer, watching its 
wants and interests. He is not general fac- 
totum, or man of all work, on wiiom is to be 
laid all the drudgery of the congregation. 

Where the operations of the Church are left 
to rest with one man no matter how faithful, 

36 



422 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



how able, how wise, how strong he may be, 
the affairs of the Church must suffer ; and the 
members will not grow strong. If, however, 
there is an effort to join with him for the well- 
being of the Church, faithful officers, elders 
and deacons, the case may be somewhat re- 
lieved. But when the whole work of the 
Church, is left by the membership, even to the 
consistory, without the hearty cooperation of 
the members themselves, there must still be a 
lack of united strength, and crippled useful- 
ness. 

It is necessary to the best state of the 
Church, that every single member does Ma duty. 
Of the poor widow it must be written, that 
" She hath done what she could." While all 
belong to the Church, the Church also belongs 
to all. They are interested in her welfare. 
No member s work is done, when he has joined 
the communion of the Church, but only then 
fairly begun. 

All the work of the Church is a concern to 
every member, in so far as God has given abili- 
ty to help in the work. And it makes a great 
difference in the amount of success, when the 
people all have a mind for the work. 

ATTENDANCE. 

Of course, it is the duty of every member 



ATTENDANCE. 



423 



to attend all the public services of the Church. 
They should, therefore, each and all make it 
their business to be on duty here, unless pro- 
videntially prevented. When this one, or 
that one stays away, because, as they think, 
they are of no account, the loss is a most se- 
rious one. 

Not only to the member absent, who may 
like Thomas miss the very occasion that 
would have removed doubts, established faith, 
and fitted them for gracious duty, not only to 
such is there loss, but to all the Church. 
Every one is an encouraging help to all the 
rest. In the u assembly of the saints," is the 
promised blessing received. The most ob- 
scure member is needed, no less than all the 
others. No one can innocently disarrange the 
whole. If one member is wanting here, all 
the rest literally suffer. Let all, be always 
present in the public service, and it will 
strengthen the Church. None so humble, or 
old, or poor, or helpless as not to be missed. 
Nor is any one so rich, or strong, or zealous, 
as to be spared now and then, without dam- 
age to himself and the Church. 

Taking part. No one is a mere spectator. 
Attendance is not all. An active and hearty 



424 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



effort must be made, to take part in the ser- 
vice. 

In the offering of prayer and praise, each 
and all should unite in a hearty spiritual ser- 
vice. We are to worship and serve God, not 
only with the spirit, but with the body also. 
This duty requires the knees to kneel, or the 
limbs to stand up, and the lips, the tongue, and 
the voice to join in the worship of God. The 
attitude of the worshiping assembly is a part 
of the worship, which must be hearty and spir- 
itual. Even in the reading and preaching of 
the word, all are to hear. He that hath ears 
to hear, let him hear ! Take heed also what 
ye hear ! Be swift to hear ! Receive the in- 
grafted word. 

Other labors. The Prayer-meeting and Lec- 
ture are generally left in the hands of a very 
few. These few are the faithful and trusty 
members in every congregation. They have 
life enough to discharge their duty, and con- 
tinue in well-doing; others grow weak and 
faint in their souls. How refreshing these 
meetings would be, if all felt it their privilege 
and duty to be present and take part in them ! 
The prayer-meeting is an index of the congre- 
gation's spiritual condition. 

But there is other work to do. The minister 



ATTENDANCE, 



425 



cannot go about always drumming up people 
to come to church. The officers are to help in 
this work. But the members should each 
and all act as a working committee, to bring 
all the rest to the discharge of their several 
duties, and looking after those yet out of 
the Church. It was the servants of the Lord, 
who went out to call persons to the great sup- 
per. 

The Priesthood of members exercised right- 
ly, w r ould work wonders in the Church, not 
by ignoring the regular ministry and the con- 
sistory, but by helping these in their official 
functions. While all Christians partake of the 
threefold anointing of Christ, and are, there- 
fore, prophets, priests and kings : yet in the 
Church, there were ordained apostles, teach- 
ers, pastors, elders, deacons, helps and gov- 
ernments, for the perfecting of the saints. 

Sunday-school teachers are wanting in al- 
most every congregation. This should not be 
so. The faithful members will labor where- 
ver called. If they have room for working, 
they will be found on duty. Some excuse 
their want of zeal, by the plea of unfitness. 
It is their business to make themselves fit 
for any duty God plainly calls them to do. If 
He says, go work to-day in my vineyard He 

36* 



426 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



means that they are fit, if they are willing. 
He asks no more of them, than the right use 
of the talents He has entrusted to them. 

Beautifying or repairing the Church edifice, 
or building a new one, providing a parsonage 
and helping in the adequate support of the 
minister : in such work there ought to be will- 
ing and hearty cooperation. These things are 
not done for man, but for God. 

Whatever is thus done, if from a true faith 
for God's glory, will receive a reward, not of 
merit, but of grace — a real reward neverthe- 
less. With such a heavenly blessing await- 
ing, every member ought to be moved to duty. 

IN THE CHURCH AT LARGE. 

Christianity has no selfish element in it. 
We are exhorted to do good unto all men, es- 
pecially to favor those of the household of 
faith. It is our duty, therefore, to consider the 
well-being of the Church at large. Our faith 
in the Holy Catholic Church, is by no means 
to exclude our real interest in the particular 
part, to which we belong. Nor is our first duty 
to our own congregation, to absorb all our 
church love. 

Without bigotry or selfish party feeling, we 
ought to cherish a love for our whole Reformed 



IN THE CHURCH AT LARGE. 



427 



Church. Catholic Christianity does not destroy 
individual Christians ; and congregational du- 
ties do not shut off the enlarged enterprises of 
the whole denomination. We ought to love 
our Church above all others. The warmer 
and deeper our love for our Reformed Church, 
the more will we allow others to regard their 
own with proper love. 

Indifference is not Catholicity ; and Catho- 
licity does not breed indifference. Those per- 
sons who prate most of ignoring historical de- 
nominations for the sake of external union, are 
not the most sincere or the most Catholic ; un- 
less as they generally mean the union is all to 
be on their side. 

Our history, the Christian world will find, to 
be Catholic, peaceful, and honest in its efforts to 
unite all Christians on the Creed of Christen- 
dom. We have a historical problem and mis- 
sion. We have a right and duty to exist, and 
maintain our own existence before all others. 

We honor and love the mother that bore us. 
Church love and devotion is no less a duty. 
If God has revealed His grace to us in the Re- 
formed Church; if we have been born or 
adopted in her ; if God's providence in our 
birth and nurture has indicated His election 
of the Reformed Church as our spiritual home, 



428 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



let us, in the spirit of the commandment with 
the promise, cherish and cling to our Reformed 
Church. 

Great need is there, to cultivate an enlarged 
church love among our people ; or rather to 
call up into lively exercise in the general op- 
erations of our Reformed Zion, the hearty love 
our people have for the Church of our fathers. 
They need only to be made to feel that the 
success of the whole Church in her schemes of 
benevolence and general work, depends upon 
each one of our members. No matter how rich 
or poor, how humble or influential, how wise 
or simple, each has a duty to do in helping 
forward the good work. 

CHURCH LITERATURE. 

Church Publications are intended to train 
the membership into fuller Christian life. It 
is of great importance that every man be able 
to give a reason for the faith that is in him. 
Yet it is common to find members of the 
Church exceedingly ill informed of the doc- 
trines of our holy religion. 

In order to the faithful study of the Bible, 
all should become acquainted with the main 
doctrines of the Christian faith, as held in our 
Church. Indeed it is not possible to know 



THE RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER. 



what the Bible itself does teach, until we learn 
what has been the mind of the Church, as led 
by the Holy Ghost, in regard to the truth. 
The Church symbols, and the historical form 
of the faith, enable us to apprehend by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, the truth as it is in 
Jesus. 

Surely, then, it is the plain duty of all the 
members of the Church to become familiar with 
the leading doctrines held for faith. In the 
published history, in our denominational books, 
in biographies of our prominent ministers, in the 
lives of illustrious teachers, and in the current 
literature of the Church, we are able to find 
the desired knowledge. 

THE RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER. 

Most popular, available, useful, and cheap, 
is the family Religious Newspaper. No family 
can afford to do without it. No family is too 
poor to have it. Its absence in a Christian 
family can not be made up by anything else. 

It is an educator, silently, from week to 
week, affording much of that which forms the 
element of Christian nurture. The difference 
between having a well conducted Eeligious 
church-paper in the house, and not having it, 
cannot be estimated. But the results are most 



43° 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



apparent, if you can compare one family in 
which such a paper is regularly well read, with 
another, in which all its contents are unknown. 

Such a paper gathers up the steady flow of 
church life, in its formative process, and crys- 
talizes it in its weekly records. The whole 
life of the Church in general is thus made to 
touch us from every side ; and we come more 
and more to feel that we belong to the Com- 
munion of Saints. Voices uttering warnings, 
admonitions, exhortations, and heavenly coun- 
sels, address us from the general assembly of 
the Church of the first born. And such fel- 
lowship is ennobling and strengthening. 

All families, however poor, must have bread ; 
so should all Christian families have spiritual 
nourishment. If bread for the body is to be 
supplied to the needy ; so should also that 
food for the soul be afforded them by the be- 
nevolence of the Church. If any family in 
the Church is too poor, which is very rarely 
the case, to take our religious family newspa- 
per, it should be nevertheless furnished to 
them, by the deacons, out of the poor-fund. 

Other churches have a large circulation of 
their papers, because they make it a rule for 
every member to take one. Even girls at ser- 
vice in some churches, are expected and urged 



GENERAL CHURCH BENEVOLENCE. 43 1 

not only to contribute towards the minister's 
support, but to pay for a copy of the church- 
paper. Thus, some of the poorest denomina- 
tions have the largest circulation. 

We owe it to ourselves, to see to it, that 
our Church-publications be more generally in- 
troduced, and faithfully read. This would 
save our people from the winds of doctrine 
and fanatical storms. 

Put it down as a rule, that the best mem- 
bers read the publications of the Church ; and 
the faithful reading of our Church literature, 
will make the best members. 

GENERAL CHURCH BENEVOLENCE. 

Congregations, when they have built their 
own church edifice, have regularly and per- 
haps even, liberally contributed to the sup- 
port of their pastor, built a comfortable par- 
sonage, and put things generally in good con- 
dition, think that their church giving is done. 
Let others, say they, do as we have done, pro- 
vide for themselves ! 

But that is not the Apostolic custom — nor 
the custom of the Christian Church. Selfish- 
ness would exclude our needy brethren or 
destitute portions of the Church from benevo- 
lence. At the general council of the Church 



43 2 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



held at Jerusalem, the heavy burden of Jew- 
ish ceremonials, was declared not binding on 
the Gentile Christians. Only the most gene- 
ral duties were enjoined by the Holy Ghost 
and the council. Among these, it is made a 
duty of all those poor missionary churches to 
take up collections for the common fund. And 
so we find Paul requiring the churches he had 
planted to make these contributions weekly. 
No fixed sum, or percentage is named. Be- 
cause free, this duty is liable to abuse. The 
law of general Christian benevolence, is the 
law of love. A cheerful giver not grudging, 
is the best kind. A sparing sower, will reap 
but sparingly. The proportion is, as the Lord 
hath prospered. 

Government, demands taxes in proportion 
to our means and income. It must be paid, 
carried to the collector and offered to him, if 
we would avoid farther mulcting and costs. 
Every good citizen will give his proportion, if 
it be fairly laid upon him, towards sustaining 
the necessities of the State and general Gov- 
ernment. 

Now a plain question may be raised as to 
the relative value, to Christians, of the Church 
or State. Surely the blessings enjoyed in the 
Church are no less in value, than those con- 



GENERAL CHURCH BENEVOLENCE. 



433 



ferred in the State. Should not then, the 
Church contribution of Christians, at least be 
equal to what they must give to the Govern- 
ment ? Yet some pay great sums, even hun- 
dreds of dollars tax to Caesar, and have only 
given but little bits and dribs to God. Ben- 
der, therefore, to Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's ; but forget not — refuse not, — to ren- 
der unto God, the things that are His. 

Some years, as now, the rate and amount of 
tax may be extraordinary. So there may also 
be years of specially large contributions to the 
Church's benevolent treasury. But we are 
not our own, and our property is only ours as 
God's stewards. Our only comfort in life and 
in death is, that we belong, with property and 
life, living or dying, to our faithful Saviour 
J esus Christ. Since God needs a portion of the 
trust He has given us, we dare not withhold 
it when He calls. Those who do, will surely 
find that He will before long, transfer the 
trust to more faithful stewards. 

Let our Reformed Church, reform her prac- 
tice, in regard to this duty. It is more blessed 
to give than to receive. Then let this blessed- 
ness be secured, at least, to the children of the 
Church, by training them to the faithful dis- 



37 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



charge of this duty, which the holy Apostle 
calls a grace ! 

It is not for the want of proper heart, that 
the benevolent contributions of the Reformed 
Church are not as large proportionably as 
others ; but for the want of proper instruction 
and training. 

CHURCH MISSIONS. 

The idea of missions belongs to the Church, 
as the principle of extensive growth. From 
the beginning Christianity was propagated, the 
Church founded, and the Kingdom of God es- 
tablished by missionary work. We owe our 
existence here to this. Every congregation 
owes a debt of gratitude, which they can only 
in part repay, by aiding the cause of missions. 

A missionary spirit in a Church is good evi- 
dence of its faith and zeal. Our^ Reformed 
Church has, perhaps, not been as active and 
efficient as some others ; but especially for the 
last quarter of a century has the missionary j 
spirit been alive. Our plan of operations, it is [ 
true, has been a contracted one. Instead of an | 
enlarged and general work, it has been done 
by piecemeal. Instead of entering in the 
doors of usefulness, which Providence has 
thrown so widely open for us, we have allowed 



CHURCH MISSIONS. 



435 



others to enter in and do our work, and gather 
our fruits. 

With all our mistakes and unorganized op- 
erations, there has been growth. But if we had 
provided adequately in men and means, and 
systematic workings, our numbers might have 
been many thousands greater, our cords longer, 
and our stakes stronger. 

Modesty is a good thing in its place ; but 
when it stands in the way of duty, and is made 
a pretext to cover neglects, it is not so much 
a virtue. Our modesty has kept us too long, 
only in country school-houses and in rural dis- 
tricts. We should have acted on the Apostolic 
mode ; which planted the Church in the great 
cities and populous centres. From thence it 
is easy to operate beyond. 

Plans, powers, influences, and operations 
from our great commercial centres readily reach 
the adjacent districts. To begin in retired 
parts of the country, and to have to stay there 
too long, is reversing the Apostolic plan ; and 
hence it is not to be wondered at, that this is 
not successful. 

From the wrong plan of working in outside 
nooks and corners, not getting into the stream 
of our growing population, but settling in the 
little side eddies, we have not kept pace with 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



the increase of our country, and are unknown 
in many of our large cities. If we are to re- 
trieve our lost ground, it will cost more now, 
than the same occupancy of the great centres 
would have required, in earlier years. 

The Church needs to come forward to the 
work with enlarged plans of operations, great- 
ly increased offerings, and hearty cooperation 
with those to whom this work is entrusted. 
Every year we might plant a hundred or more 
new missions. Every ten years these would 
add to the strength and efficiency of the 
Church in her noble work. This would pro- 
duce untold good. 

Every member of our Church ought, there- 
fore, to awake to a sense of our great work. 
We owe it to the Church of our fathers, and 
above all to the dear Redeemer whom we love, 
to do our whole duty. Prayer and faith, and 
alms-deeds, and all good works, are all need- 
ed. We are failing of our most solemn trust, 
if we come short here. Having done so much 
with such small means and poor plans ; wliat 
may not the Reformed Church accomplish, 
when all her powers are brought to bear on 
the work ? We have but faintly begun. 
When the ingathering shall come, it will be 
seen, whether our members have consecrated 



CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 



437 



enough of their means, and a proper share of 
labor to the sacred cause of missions. 

CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 

Parochial Schools, Academies, Colleges and 
Theological Seminaries, are needed to prepare 
a proper ministry and membership. The 
standard of education in the Church will, 
other things being equal, gauge her influence 
and measure her power. 

Hence, we need endowments and gifts to 
establish such institutions. Not only do we 
need theological schools, but also before these, 
colleges, and, as preparatory to them and 
feeders, also classical academies. These must, 
however, be well supported, to be useful. En- 
dowments ever so great would be all useless, 
unless the youth of the Church are put into 
the schools and colleges, and finally into the 
theological Seminary. 

Monied men must, therefore, supply the 
means, to found, establish and endow these. 
Families must fill them with students. Our 
whole membership is raised intellectually, in 
proportion as these pieans are employed. 
Knowledge is power ; and it is highly import- 
ant that it should not become power for evil. 
Sanctified by true religion it is power for good. 

37* 



438 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Let the Church then become the salt of the 
earth, by educating her youth into Christian 
power and social influence. 

BENEFICIARY EDUCATION. 

It has been the custom of our Church to 
provide means for helping poor, but worthy 
young men, into the holy ministry. Some of 
our most useful and prominent preachers have 
been brought into the ministry in this way. 

Take up a promising youth, who has his 
heart in the work, and educate him for the 
ministry. Who can tell the limit of the good 
that is thus done ? His work, if he be faith- 
ful, is crowned with blessing; and others 
through him engage in the same great work 
So, wave after wave of holy influence is set 
rolling towards the shore of eternity. Who 
that cannot in person go and preach the ever- 
lasting gospel of the blessed God, and that has 
the means, would not help in educating a needy 
young man of worth and talents, who has the 
heart, but not the means? 

Few are found willing, if able, to do this 
singly and alone. Hence the Church has an 
Education Board, into whose treasury small 
contributions may be placed, to supply the 
wants of the needy beneficiary student. 



ORPHANS, WIDOWS, AND THE POOR. 



Our Saviour left to the Church the poor to 
represent Himself always. In the Christian 
poor He can be fed, and clothed, and visited, 
and cared for in sickness and distress. It is a 
blessing for the Church that such objects of 
charity are present, if they are faithfully taken 
care of, in the name of Christ Jesus. 

Continual small gifts, flowing from the liv- 
ing charities of the Church, from year to year, 
into institutions of this kind, are needed to 
cultivate this Christian grace. In this is the 
Church twice blessed ; for it is more blessed to 
give than to receive. Homes for orphans are 
to be provided. Into these have the fatherless 
been gathered; their hungry mouths fed ; their 
nakedness clothed; their bodies warmed; their 
sickness ministered unto ; and their wants re- 
lieved. This is a noble work. 

Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or 
sick, or naked, or imprisoned, and ministered 
unto Thee ? Inasmuch as ye did it unto the 
fatherless, the widow, and the poor, one of 
the least of these, in my name, ye have done 
it unto Me ! 

How often are widows and destitute poor 
overlooked, and their wants neglected? As 
yet we have no homes or retreats for such. 
Each congregation must provide for its own. 



440 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Thus the whole cycle of good works, in the 
Church, comes to have meaning for every Chris- 
tian. Tn every good word and work, our ac- 
tivities should be called into exercise. 

So we fulfill the law of grace and of love. 
Our Christian life requires " us to take delight 
in living according to the will of God in all 
good worlcs." When all our personal duties are 
thus understood, and faithfully done, then may 
we expect our beloved Zion to arise and shine, 
putting on her beautiful garments, and be ar- 
rayed as a fit bride for her heavenly Bride- 
groom. Though humbled, plucked and perse- 
cuted, yet when her " people shall be all right 
eous," the "sons of strangers shall build up her 
walls," and her walls shall be called Salvation 
and her gates Praise. 

u Sure as thy truth shall last, 
To Zion shall be given ; 
The brightest glories earth can yield, 
And brighter blis3 of Heaven. " 



CHAPTER XV. 



CHURCH GOVERNMENT AND ORDER. 

OUR Reformed Church has its own order 
and polity ; which makes us peculiar, not 
so much in our general government, as 
in our internal management of church affairs. 
Churches like families in the civil order, may 
be peculiar in their manner and life, as falling 
under the more general laws of society at 
large. Some proper ground of authority must, 
however, be found, for all law and customs 
forming our Church Canons, if they are to be 
at all valid and of binding force. 

Church-order does not spring as mushrooms 
out of the ground ; nor does her government 
fall like lightning from the clouds. But 
whether it comes from the profound depths of 
the Church's earthly need, or from the skies 
of her heavenly hopes, its authority must 
nevertheless be really and truly divine. This 
alone is satisfactory, for that which involves 
such far-reaching influences and eternal conse- 

441 



442 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



quences, as grow out of the transactions of ec- 
clesiastical assemblies. 

The Church, Reformed in doctrines and 
customs, requires Bible precept, or Apostolic 
sanction for her faith and practice, her cus- 
toms and laws. This is the very least, that 
will be a sufficient warrant for evangelical 
faith and Christian practice. The banner 
Church of the heroes and champions of the 
great Reformation, ought to be true to the 
principle which makes us Reformed. 

The Church, established by the Lord Jesus, 
is to exist in the living membership, to the end 
of time. It is endowed with powers adequate 
to its own perennial existence and propagation. 
Whether determining in regard to the rule of 
faith, in the form of doctrine ; or the rule of 
life, in the order of her practice ; these powers 
were not given to the Church in full develop- 
ment at once. But thev were called forth 
from time to time, as the history of the Church 
revealed in her life, the want of them. 

The guiding Spirit was given to the Church. 
As a personal power He is present always. 
Given for the purpose of guiding the disciples 
into all truth, the Holy Spirit took of the 
things of Christ, and showed them unto the 
Church, so as to keep the Lamb's Spouse 



ELECTING AN APOSTLE. 



443 



ever pure from the taint of utter corruption 
in false doctrine, and by the sanctifying pow- 
er of the truth, to make her free from the 
blemishes, the spots and wrinkles of wrong 
practices. In this way has the Church, 
through all ages, witnessed the truth of our 
Kedeemer's promise, that against her the gates 
of hell shall not prevail. Here we find our 
Reformed life in the Holy Catholic Church. 

CHURCH ASSEMBLIES. 

We refer first to the examples of the Apos- 
tles, in their several Councils or Synods. 
These were for the good of the body of Christ 
then, and are examples also for the use of the 
Church in all later times. 

ELECTING AN APOSTLE. 

The first of these meetings was called at 
Jerusalem, before the special giving of the 
Holy Ghost. Its object was, as Peter states 
it, to elect an Apostle from among the disci- 
ples to take the place of J udas Iscariot, who 
had committed suicide, (Acts i. 15-26). The 
validity of the acts of this meeting has been 
called in question by some modern critics. It 
is objected, that it was premature and, there- 
fore, invalid, because the headlong and rash 



444 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Peter was not authorized to fill the Apostolic 
vacancy, to which the prophecy he quoted 
evidently refers : that he and the others led 
by his suggestion, were not fully under the 
guidance of the Holy Ghost, and being mere- 
ly human, erred in their action ; and finally, 
that Paul was afterwards called of Christ 
Himself, to this vacant twelfth Apostleship. 

But in answer to all this, it is shown : that 
this action of the meeting called by Peter was 
at no time and nowhere set aside subsequent- 
ly by direct instruction when the Holy Ghost 
was afterwards given ; that this would surely 
have been done, if it had really been a mistake 
of so grave a character, as we have elsewhere 
examples of such mistakes if made, corrected 
by the Holy Ghost. Further, it was allowed 
to stand written of Matthias, by unquestioned 
inspiration, that "He was numbered with the 
eleven," as the twelfth Apostle. It is clear 
also from Acts vi. 2, where it speaks of the 
twelve before St. Paul was called, thus formal- 
ly including Matthias. So it makes valid by 
divine sanction, the acts of the assembled dis- 
ciples. Matthias was doubtless called to have 
part in the Apostleship before Pentecost ; so 
that he might also along with the eleven, re- 



ELECTING DEACONS. 



445 



ceive full ordination and the Baptism of the 
Holy Ghost. 

ELECTING DEACONS. 

The next meeting of which we have ac- 
count, was a General Convention of the 
Church, called by the " Twelve Apostles" be- 
fore Paul was a Christian. This was to 
settle the troubles and complaints raised by 
the Greek converts against the Hebrew party, 
that there was favoritism shown in the minis- 
trations of the affairs of the Church. Wheth- 
er by unavoidable oversight, or by actual pur- 
pose, the poor widows of the Greeks were 
neglected. The fact was not denied. And 
measures were adopted to remedy the grow- 
ing evil. 

This gave rise to a new order of office. The 
rights of the people to elect, and the reserved 
rights of the Apostles to ordain those elected, 
are here clearly brought out in this meeting, 
which resolved to create the Order of Dea- 
cons ; and the people did elect and the Apos- 
tles did ordain "seven men of honest report, 
and full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom/' to 
this office. This example would go far to show, 
that the Church, by the Holy Ghost, has 
power to create such means as will supply her 

38 



446 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



growing wants, arising from her changing cir- 
cumstances and conditions. As these would 
be variously modified in her history, so in her 
constitution, she had the means to meet all 
such need. 

COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. 

There was a general council (Acts xv.) called 
for settling the relation of Gentile Christians 
to the Church. Originally only converts from 
Judaism and its proselytes were received. The 
great question to be put to rest was, not whether 
the Gospel, with all its benefits, was intended 
for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews, (that 
never was called into question,) but whether 
the Gentiles, desiring its grace, must first 
become converts in full to the formal rites of 
Judaism, and after Baptism keep the ceremo- 
nial law. Guided by the Holy Spirit into all 
truth, the Church then established her Evan- 
gelical Liberty, as over against Jewish bond- 
age. Delegates were present also from other 
churches besides that at Jerusalem ; as, for in- 
stance, Paul and Barnabas representing the 
Church at Antioch. This, then, establishes 
the principle of presence by delegates. And 



CHURCH AUTHORITY. 



447 



they settled the matter, as it appeared good 
to the Holy Ghost and to them. 

MISSIONARY MEETING. 

There was an assembly of the Church at 
Antioch, (Acts xiv. 27), to hear the mission- 
ary report of Barnabas and Paul, who, set 
apart by the Holy Spirit in the Church, car- 
ried the Gospel to other cities, and established 
other churches. So, too, there was called a 
council at Jerusalem, (Acts xxi. 18), of which 
St. James was President to hear what things 
God had wrought among the Gentiles. 

St. Paul also called a meeting of the Elders 
of the Church of Ephesus, to convene at Mile- 
tus, to hear his farewell address and solemn 
charge. In these examples we see types of 
the assemblies needed to regulate all the affairs 
of the Church. 

The authority for transacting all proper 
business pertaining to the welfare of this King- 
dom of Grace, is divine. Christ, ever present 
in His word and Sacraments by the Holy Spirit, 
gives force and authenticity to the government 
of the Church. 

CHURCH AUTHORITY. 

Here, then, are lodged tremendous powers. 



448 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Christ has Himself assured us, that as He was 
sent by the Father, even so sent He His disci- 
ples ; declaring that as all power and authority 
in Heaven and on earth was given Him, there- 
fore He said unto them, go ye, make disciples ! 
He breathed on them, that they should receive 
the Holy Ghost, and therewith committed unto 
them the power of the keys ; by which they 
were to open and shut the Kingdom of Heaven, 
remitting or retaining sins, with the pledge of 
His presence to ratify and confirm what was 
done in His name, even to the end of the world. 

The assembled authority of the Church, 
if even but two or three be gathered together 
in His name, has functions and powers -suffi- 
cient to control and govern herself from age to 
age. In any given time and country, there 
must be found autonomic powers in the Church, 
and all that is needed to propagate and perpet- 
uate herself, and spread her conquests and tri- 
umphs, till she includes all nations, and kin- 
dreds, and tongues of the whole earth. These 
were not all full formed at the start. They 
grew as they were needed. 

offices. 9 

Our Lord Himself appointed only the Apos- 
tles. This was a special office to witness Christ's 



OFFICES. 



449 



resurrection, and found the Christian Church. 
It was not transmitted ; and after St. Paul was 
called in a special manner by the Lord Jesus, 
we read no further of such appointments. 

But as "God hath set some in the Church, 
first Apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly 
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of heal- 
ing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues," 
so also "He gave some Apostles; some pro- 
phets; some evangelists; some pastors and 
teachers ; for the perfecting of the Saints ; for 
the work of the ministry ; for the edifying of 
the body of Christ. ,, All these after the Apostles 
would seem to have been appointed by the con- 
stitutional powers vested in the Church. For 
example : the appointment of Deacons, and af- 
terwards Deaconesses, was made by the Church 
to meet the wants then felt. So, too, teaching 
and ruling Elders in every church. Yet these 
are nevertheless truly of God. 

Not only to determine the office itself, but 
also to elect officers to fill them, and by the 
formal act of ordination fully to clothe them 
with authority to exercise their several func- 
tions, must no less belong to the Church. The 
functions conferred in acts of ordination are 
hence divine, not only in outward form, but 
in very reality. The virtue of the official's 



38* 



450 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



power is not in the mere fact of his election on 
the human side, but in the ordination and sol- 
emn inauguration into office, officially involv- 
ing the divine commission, 

ORDINATION TO OFFICE IS OF GOD. 

Many are prone to lodge official power in 
the mere election to office, as though authority 
came from the consent of the masses upwards 
to the office. But the truth is, it comes, as do 
all the powers of grace, from above downwards, 
by the media of objective forces already at 
hand in the divinely constituted order. So 
even in human affairs, as in civil government. 

Our Presidents and Governors are not such 
fully when they are only elected by the peo- 
ple, but when they are sworn into office they 
are clothed with full constitutional powers. 
All law is of divine ordination for officers and 
people, the rulers and the ruled. " The powers 
that be are ordained of God." Apart from this 
divine fact, the civil ruler becomes a tyrant, 
and the people become a disorderly mob. Law 
can only be freedom when it is in harmony 
with divine order. Otherwise it is at best as- 
sumption merely, which easily runs into vio- 
lence, tyranny, and mob rule. 

While the Church has divine power, there- 



FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 



451 



fore, to create offices, elect officers, and clothe 
them in ordination with full power to adminis- 
ter the functions of that office ; there is also 
power to define duties, and decree conditions 
of obedience, on the part of the whole Church, 
including the regular membership. This was 
done precisely at that general council at Jeru- 
salem. They determined to what common 
observances the Gentile converts should be 
held. So that the council (including Apostles, 
Elders, and the brethren.) and the Holy Ghost, 
only laid upon them the observance of four 
necessary things. Hence, then, we conclude 
the source of this authority is divine ; and its 
ground is the divine human life of the Church. 

FORMS OF CHURCH-GOVERNMENT. 

The Christian Church is divided on the 
form of Church-Government. 

Titeocracy. Among the Jews, God directly 
controlled their affairs, communicating to them 
His will, and appointing for them formally 
such observances as were proper for them. 
Even the civil order was also of the same 
kind, until the people clamored for a king, 
that they might u be like the nations." 

In a certain sense, all Church order is near- 
ly allied to the Theocracy of the Jews. 



452 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



But there is a marked difference in many 
respects between any known order in the 
Church now, and that which prevailed in the 
times of Moses, and the J udges. Some fanat- 
ical sects, still claim to be governed in the 
same way. 

Papal Hierarchy. The papacy, its supreme 
head assuming to be the Vicegerent of Christ, 
with its Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops, 
Priests, Deacons and minor orders, is a most 
remarkable form of Church-Government. It 
is a recognized form, holding a large place in 
the pages of history. It was doubtless the best 
for the Middle Ages ; and God used it as such. 

Episcopacy. The Episcopal order contains 
at least three degrees or orders in the minis- 
try ; Deacons, Presbyters and Bishops. This 
form seems to antedate the rise of the papacy. 
It is the form of the Greek Church, and of an 
important part of Protestantism. It claims, 
that the Episcopos, or Overseer, and the 
Presbuteros, or Elder, of the New Testament 
are not the same. Though the same persons 
in the same office are mentioned under these 
terms, which makes them convertible and the 
same ; yet the Church acknowledges Episco- 
pacy, and so makes it historical and valid. 

It is claimed, that the Bishopric is at least 



FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 



453 



analogous to, if not fully equal to the Apos- 
tolic office. The office of Bishop differs very 
greatly in the different bodies where it is 
maintained ; as for instance, there is a vast 
difference between the official respectability 
and dignity of a Protestant Episcopal Bishop, 
and one in the same office in modern sects. 

Presbyteridl. As now generally held, it ad- 
mits of but one order in the office of the Gos- 
pel ministry. A large part of Protestantism 
is under this form, which, it is claimed, was 
restored by the Swiss, French and German 
Reformers to its primitive place in the Church. 
Timothy, as St. Paul reminds him, had "the 
gift" of office bestowed upon him, by the lay- 
ing on of hands of the Presbytery, (or body of 
Elders, or Presbuteroi, or Bishops, Episcopoi, 
if the terms are convertible, as we believe,) 
who ordained him, and he became one of 
equal office with them. 

Distinction is made between the Presbyters 
or Elders who labor in "word and doctrine," 
and those who " rule well." On this Scripture 
distinction, whether well founded or not, (for 
we aim not here to settle the question raised 
on this point.) we have the Gospel ministry, 
and lay-eldership. Church discipline, the 
"power of the keys," is committed to minis- 



454 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



ters and elders, to the exclusion of the Dea- 
cons. 

Laymen, probably not elders, were in the 
council at Jerusalem, (Acts xv.), besides the 
Apostles and Elders, who came together " for 
to consider this matter." For we read that 
they addressed a letter to the Christians of 
Antioch and other Gentile Churches, in the 
name of the Holy Ghost, the Apostles, the 
Elders, and the brethren. And some of these 
laymen were sent as delegates from the coun- 
cil along with Barnabas and Paul, bearing this 
letter in the name of the General Council to 
the Gentile churches. 

Independency is another form of Church gov- 
ernment. It grows, perhaps, one-sidedly out 
of Presbyterianism, and is on the extreme left 
wing of ultra Protestantism. Its principle is 
that every congregation is a complete Church. 
It is but one remove from schism, and easily 
runs into heresy. 

THE REFORMED ORDER.' 

We beg leave here to put it upon record, 
and we claim the privilege as an unquestioned 
right, that our Church government is purely 
Presbyterian ; and not a whit less so than those 
whose title designates them The Presbyteri- 



THE REFORMED ORDER. 



455 



ans. The Reformed Church, back to the days 
of Zwinglius, Melancthon, Calvin, and De- 
Lasky, when this order was restored and by 
her first reduced to synodical form, might justly 
claim to be the mother, (if not, indeed, the 
grandmother,) of the more recently born Pres- 
byterians. And yet it is true, that the Scotch- 
Irish type of this order in this country, affects 
in many cases, with the most amazing con- 
descension to patronize our Reformed Church, 
by allowing us to be called, for certain sufficient 
reasons, the German Presbyterians. The Re- 
formed Church rightfully lays claim to the 
inheritance of Calvin's general theological sys- 
tem. Others pretend to be par-excellence Cal- 
vinists, and yet practically repudiate one whole 
side of the great master's teachings, which we 
hold in honor ; namely, his doctrines of the 
Holy Sacraments. 

We notice here the offices, officers, and gov- 
erning order in our Church. The Church is 
first, in order to members. New powers come 
from Heaven to earth, take up the merely nat- 
ural, and constitute the real mystical body. 
Hence the power that is able to beget mem- 
bers, is also able to define duties, to create of- 
fices, and to appoint and ordain officers. It 
has autonomic life and law. 



456 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Our Reformed branch of the Living Vine 
has in her ministry, preachers, teachers, elders, 
and deacons. 

The Ministry of the Word and Sacraments, 
is the highest office in the Reformed Church. 
Ministers of the Gospel are of the same order 
as that of New Testament Presbyter, Overseer, 
Pastor, and Bishop. His duties are to have 
the general oversight and chief care of the par- 
ish-charge over which he is placed. He is, to 
this end, to continue in prayer, to preach the 
word of God, to administer the Holy Sacra- 
ments, and exercise, with the constituted rul- 
ing elders, Church discipline. He must be an 
example to believers in word and doctrine, in 
conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and 
in purity ; giving attendance to reading, to ex- 
hortation, to doctrine ; meditating upon these 
things, giving himself wholly to them ; that 
he may save both himself and them that hear 
him. Once clothed with the robe of the holy 
office by ordination at the hands of the Church, 
he can never lay aside or resign innocently, 
his official duties and ministerial character. 
Till discharged from active labors by provi- 
dential disabilities, as by infirmity and age, he 
cannot consistently quit the work of the holy 
ministry and engage in mere worldly pursuits. 
All ordination is .indelible and perpetual. 



THE REFORMED ORDER. 



457 



Teacher of the Word, or officially appointed 
Theological Professor, is also an office in the 
Reformed Church. " He that teacheth," is to 
wait " on teaching/' so as to explain and de- 
fend the pure doctrine of the Gospel against 
error. He is chiefly to teach candidates for the 
holy Gospel ministry, so that they may know 
the sense of the Holy Scripture, and be able 
also to enforce its teachings in their ministra- 
tions. This teaching is to include especially 
Church History and Government, Systematic 
Theology, and the duties of the Pastoral office. 
Under such teaching it is expected that the 
students will " experience the power of godli- 
ness in themselves, and be in all things exam- 
ples to the flock." 

Of the utmost importance it is "that the 
Professors of Theology be sound in the faith, 
have the requisite ability to teach, and possess 
the confidence of the Church." When once in, 
he holds the office for life, unless disabled. 
He is generally selected from those in the rank 
of the Ministry of the Word ; and hence is not 
ordained as teacher ; but he is solemnly sworn 
into office at his inauguration, pledging fidelity 
to the Holy Scriptures, and the Heidelberg 
Catechism in word and deed. 

Elders. " The eldership is a spiritual office, 

39 



45 8 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



second only to the ministry of the word. As 
now held by the Reformed Church, the elders 
are to assist and support the minister of the 
Word in the general management of the 
Church. The spiritual council is in their 
hands • and they are bound, together with the 
Pastor, to take part in the general work of 
the ministry, so far as it has to do with the 
oversight and rule of the Church. They are 
to be hands and eyes to help the minister in 
his episcopal trust, acting with him, and for 
him in his absence. It is their province, to go 
before the flock in the way of Christian ex- 
ample, to watch over it in the Lord, to take 
an active interest in its spiritual welfare, to 
feel a responsibility for its condition, to be at 
hand in all circumstances with spiritual aid 
for its necessities and wants. It belongs to 
them, in virtue of their office, to visit the sick 
and afflicted, to instruct the ignorant, to ad- 
monish such as are out of the way, to warn 
the unruly, to command and rebuke with au- 
thority in Christ's name. To them, moreover, 
in conjunction with the Pastor, belongs the 
whole discipline of the Church, its power of 
the keys, as exercised both in the form of cen- 
sure and in the form of absolution." 

They, like other officers in the Church, may 



THE REFORMED ORDER. 



459 



be chosen of men, but the gift of office comes 
itself, only from God, in whose name and au- 
thority they are ordained. The important 
character of the office should prevent it from 
being intrusted to men of unworthy Christian 
life. 

Deacons. The office of Deacon grew very 
early out of the wants of the Church. See 
Acts vi. 1-6, and 1 Tim. iii. 8-13. 

It has regard to the wants of the poor. As 
the poor are a perpetual inheritance of the 
Church, there is need for a separate office in 
the ministry of the Church, to which care is 
to be given. The collection of alms and other 
monies of the Church for the use of the poor, 
and other necessary wants, should not be 
made to hinder and distract the main work of 
the minister. To provide for the poor, and 
support the Pastor, the deacons have ne- 
vertheless a spiritual office, the discharge of 
whose duties properly, requires no small de- 
gree of grace and fullness of the Holy Ghost. 
Of honest report and wisdom, exemplary in 
faith and practice, they should help forward 
the great work of the Gospel. They are to 
be, as well as the elders, exemplary leaders 
and examples to the flock; and are to be after 
their election ordained to that rank of office. 



460 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



It is no mean privilege to hold this office at 
the hands of the Lord. 

THE CONSISTORY. 

The first form of the Church-Court, has its 
judicature in the congregation. Its power is 
spiritual. In every parish charge, the Pastor 
together with the Elders and Deacons consti- 
tute a Consistory, which has the right and 
power to act upon all questions which claim 
their attention. They represent the members 
of the Church. They generally are intrusted 
also with the office of trusteeship of the 
Church-property. 

In and through it the people are primarily 
heard. It can in a preliminary way, consult 
on and propose such action as may be deemed 
desirable by the congregation, in calling a 
minister, and buying or selling property. To 
the minister and elders, only belongs the 
strictly spiritual affairs, the deacons having 
no right to act in cases of discipline, and re- 
ceiving or excluding members. Doctrines 
guarded and kept pure, and sound faith and 
good morals, peace and church prosperity be- 
long to their trust. 

Of the consistory, the Pastor is, ex-officio, 
President. And in cases demanding attention 



THE CLASSIS. 



461 



in the way of discipline, the minister alone 
may exercise his authority to use the power 
of the keys to open or shut, if the elders neg- 
lect, or fail in the discharge of this duty. 

It has power to elect delegates to the Gas- 
sis, of which the congregation forms a part. 
These delegates by universal custom and the 
elsewhere implied requirements of the Consti- 
tution have always been taken from the elder- 
ship, and they are required to be of such rank 
in the Classis and Synod. 

Three pastoral charges and as many or- 
dained ministers of the Gospel, or a greater 
number, may with the consent of the Synod 
to which they belong, be constituted a Classis, 
which corresponds to a Presbytery, or a Dis- 
trict Synod, in other churches. So formed the 
Synod may not dismember, or dissolve a Clas- 
sis without its own consent. No neighboring 
Classis can occupy the same territory. 

All the congregations, if there be more than 
one, in the same pastoral charge unite in 
sending an elder to the Classis. If a, pastoral 
charge has no minister at the time, they are 
nevertheless in duty bound to send an elder to 
Classis. If there be two ministers in the same 
pastoral charge, both are members of the Clas- 
sis. 

39* 



462 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



Classis requires an annual parochial report, 
from each pastorate, giving a faithful account 
of the state of morals and religion in every 
parish. When there is no pastor present the 
delegated elder is no less bound to make this 
report. Especially shall the elders be able to 
answer in regard to the preaching of the Gos- 
pel in its purity, according to the doctrines of 
the Word of God, and the standards of the 
Reformed Church ; in regard to the faithful 
catechising of the children and youth, and re- 
ceiving of members into the Church ; in re- 
gard to the family visitation ; in regard to 
the duty of guarding the Lord's Supper from 
profanation ; and in regard to the mainten- 
ance and support of the Pastor by the people. 

This provision of the Constitution, if faith- 
fully observed, prevents any Pastoral charge 
represented by an honest elder, from being 
ever led astray from the doctrines and customs 
of our fathers. 

A Classis may license and ordain proper 
persons to the holy ministry, install pastors, 
receive and dismiss ministers, suspend and de- 
pose their own members according to desert, 
oversee pastoral charges, decide appeals from 
consistories, form new congregations, define 
boundaries of pastoral charges token requested, 



THE SYNOD. 



463 



or the Classis may deem it expedient. Its reg- 
ular meeting must be held annually ; and spe- 
cial meetings may be called, and should be 
held whenever business of the above nature 
claims attention. 

Delegates to Synod are elected by the Clas- 
ses, in the ratio of one minister and one elder, 
for every six, and a fractional part of six of 
each order in its membership. And it is the 
duty of every Classis to send to Synod by its 
delegates, a copy of all its minutes of that 
year, and a statistical report containing its 
number of ministers, congregations, members, 
baptisms, confirmations, deaths and Sunday- 
schools, number of Sunday-school scholars, 
and also the amount collected for general be- 
nevolence. 

The Synod. Then, next in order, is a body 
composed of delegates from not less than four 
Classes, called Synod. At present we have 
but three such bodies. By a resolution passed 
at the previous annual meeting a Synod may 
meet in Convention, composed of all the min- 
isters within its bounds, and one elder from 
each pastoral charge. 

The Synod has power to license and ordain 
to the office of the holy ministry ; to receive 
and determine appeals from the Classes 3 to 



464 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



advise and determine cases referred, or as re- 
quested by the Classes ; to establish, maintain 
and control in all respects, such theological 
and other institutions within its bounds, as it 
may deem necessary. It reviews the proceed- 
ings of its Classes ; establishes new Classes, 
changes and determines on petition or refer- 
ence, boundaries ; and settles controversies be- 
tween Classes, or parties belonging to two or 
more several Classes. 

The Synod has no power to interfere with 
matters within the jurisdiction of a Classis, 
except they be brought up by reference and 
appeal ; or in other cases, where the Classis 
neglects to act in a plain matter of duty. The 
Synod holds its regular meeting annually ; but 
special meetings may be called by the Presi- 
dent, when requested in writing by four min- 
isters and an equal number of delegated el- 
ders. At least three weeks' previous notice 
of such meeting must be given, to those who 
were members of the annual meeting; and 
only such business as is specified in the call 
can claim attention. Each Synod must send 
a copy of all its proceedings to the General 
Synod. . 

General Synod. The unity of our general 
ecclesiastical structure appears finally in the 



THE GENERAL SYNOD. 



465 



General Synod, representing the whole Church. 
It is our highest tribunal ; and is for us the last 
source of appeal and authority. 

The General Synod is composed of delegates 
from all the Classes ; a majority of which must 
be represented to constitute a quorum. Its 
meetings are held for the present triennially. 
With the approval of two-thirds of all the 
Classes, it may change the Constitution and de- 
cide in regard to a Catechism, a Hymn Book, 
and a Liturgy. It reviews the proceedings of 
the Synods; legislates on matters pertaining 
to the whole Church, as differences between 
Synods, or two or more Classes belonging to 
different Synods; and manages the Foreign 
and Home Missions of the Church. It may 
also form new Synods, at the request of four 
or more Classes lying adjacent, with the con- 
sent of the Synod or Synods within whose lim- 
its they may be. Its first meeting was held in 
Pittsburgh, Pa., in November, 1863. It was 
of peculiar historical character, falling as it 
did, in the Jubilee year of the Three Hun- 
dredth Anniversary of the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism, whose festival character gave tone to 
our whole Church life, and as a true revival, 
proved to be a marked event in our history. 
We claim to be, by divine authority, Keformed. 



4 66 



CREED AND CUSTOMS. 



The several historical forms of church order 
are each divine, in so far as they were per- 
mitted of God to hold place in the Church, 
to serve His wise purposes. The Lord Jesus 
never would have sanctioned any form which 
would not contribute to His glory and the good 
of His mystical body. So His presence, power, 
and Spirit in the Church, from age to age, and 
in different lands and nations, gave the Church, 
by her autonomic law, such order and form, 
such helps and governments, as were best 
suited to the wants of the age, country, or cir- 
cumstances. These several "governments," 
though differing in form, are then each divine. 

No one of the historical forms of Church 
order, however right and proper in its own 
place, has special authority or divine sanction, 
to the exclusion of all the others in their true 
places. Hence the assumption of the Papacy, 
or of Episcopacy, or of Presbyterianism, to be 
the only divine and scriptural form, to the ex- 
clusion of the rest, is, in a historical view, 
absurd. For God, revealing His will in the 
history of His Spouse, the Lamb's Bride, does 
not contradict, but only confirm divine revela- 
tion in the Holy Scriptures. Hence the Early 
Church, the Middle Ages, and the Protestant 
period are all alike the product in form and 
spirit of the divine presence. 



CONCLUSION. 



467 



Every branch, not planted by the right hand 
of the Lord, is rooted up, east out, withered, 
and burned. Not so, however, has God dealt 
with the Reformed Church. A living part 
of the true Vine, through the ages, it survives 
and bears fruit to the glory of the Father. Not 
accidental or unauthorized is the form and 
order of our life, in our offices and assemblies. 
The common faith and life of true Christianity 
come down to us historically through the fa- 
thers from the Church of all ages. 

Patient in tribulation, rejoicing in hope, we 
commit our way to the Lord. Faithfully la- 
boring to advance the standard of the Cross, 
we lift up our banner. And may our fathers' 
God keep His Reformed heritage in safety, 
unity, and peace, till the day of Jesus Christ. 
Amen ! 




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